Ul 


Ui 


'*», 


i 


iiliii 


»»'■ 


I 


I 


1  1              1  ' 

1 
j     t 

i 

i\  1 

MP        i 
1          ,                      '  1 1     ' 

1  .    ! 

1 

.       ■ 

1 } 

If!- 

1 

■ 

1 

i 

i  1*  II 

i   ll                                       Ij    i 

.ilL. 

1                                     1 

.:      ;    C 
1        t 

i 

■  j 

\\ 

'iiitiillillllllllllllijlliilliiliillitlilillil^ 

L 

APR  9  1912 


?=V*iV'!> 


BV  1520  .C65  1907  j 

Cope,  Henry  Frederick,  1870- 

1923. 
The  modern  Sunday  school  in 

principle  and  practice 


The  Modern  Sunday  School 
in  Principle  and  Practice 


HENRY      F.      COPE 


Levels  of  Living 

12nio,  Decorated  cloth,  net  $1.00 
"Mr.  Cope  has  a  peculiar  gift  for 
plain  thinking  along  with  unconven- 
tional modes  of  statement  and  strik- 
ingly pat,  telling  phrase."  —  Chicago 
Tribune. 


The  Friendly  Life 

The  Right  Living  Series 
ISmo,  Boards,  net  35c 

The  Modern  Sunday 
School  in  Principle  and 
Practice 

2nd  Edition.      I2ino,  cloth,  net  $1,00 


Hymns    You    Ought   to 
Know 

( Edited  by  Henry  F.  Cope. ) 
Decorated,  8vo,  cloth,  net  $1.50 
A  Selection  of  One  Hundred  Stand- 
ard Hymns  with  a  short  introductory 
sketch  to  each. 


The  Modern  Sunday  School 
in  Principle  and  Practice 


BY 


HENRY    FREDERICK    COPE 

GENERAL  SECRETARY   THE    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


APR    9  1912 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Re  veil  Company 

London    and     Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  80  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London :  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh :    100  Princes  Street 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I.  Inteoductoby — The      Place      op      the 

School     ..... 

II.  The  History  of  the  Sunday  School  in 

THE  First  Period     . 

III.  The  History  of  the  Sunday  School  in 

THE  Second  Period. 

IV.  Plan  of  Organisation  . 

V.  Officers  and  Their  Duties  . 

VI.  The  Pastor  in  the  School  . 

VII.  Organising  the   School  as   an   Educa 

TiONAL  Agency 

VIII.  Recruiting  and  Retaining  Pupils 

IX.  Building  and  Equipment 

X.  Program         ..... 

XI.  Class   Work 

XII.  Manual  Methods 

XIII.  The  Curriculum  of  the  School  . 

XIV.  The  Teaching  of  Missions  . 

XV.  Discipline      ..... 

XVI.  Giving  and  Finances     , 

XVII.  The  Adult  Bible  Class  Movement 

XVIII.  Training  the  Working  Forces 

XIX.  The  Library  Problem   . 

XX.  Factors  in  Sunday  School  Success 
Index 


page 
9 

12 

19 
28 
40. 
51 

61 

74 

86 

95 

105 

112 

12^ 

136 

143 

151 

161 

169 

184 

195 

203 


INTRODUCTORY— THE  PLACE  OF  THE 

SCHOOL 

The  Sunday  school  no  longer  lies  among  the  neg- 
ligible factors  of  life.  Men  and  women  do  well  to 
study  its  history  and  its  present  activities,  not  alone 
because  such  study  is  prescribed  as  part  of  the 
preparation  for  service  in  the  institution,  but  be- 
cause the  school  has  become  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant forces  in  modern  affairs,  and  particularly 
because  to  this  school  we  must  look,  at  least  in 
large  measure,  for  the  solution  of  our  great  problem 
of  religious  education.  It  occupies  a  pre-eminent 
place  as  a  character-forming  institution  in  an  age 
which  is  slowly  coming  to  recognise  the  supreme 
place  of  character  and  the  regnancy  of  righteous- 
ness. It  owes  its  place  to  two  causes,  the  force  of 
necessity  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  fact  that  it  is 
fitting  itself  to  meet  that  necessity  on  the  other. 
The  force  of  necessity  has  been  on  the  Sunday 
school  as  an  agency  for  religious  education  because 
no  other  institution  is  doing  this  work  to  any  gen- 
eral extent  to-day.  Education  has  passed  from  a 
domestic  to  a  civil  duty,  while  the  civil  powers  have 
decided,  at  least  in  the  majority  of  the  States,  that 

9 


10    THE    MODERN"    SUNDAY   SCHOOL 

their  institutions  for  education  cannot  include 
instruction  in  the  Bible  or  in  religion  in  their 
curricula.  It  has,  therefore,  fallen  to  the  church, 
as  the  orgamsed  communal  force  for  religion,  to 
undertake  this  work.  If  the  training  of  the  char- 
acter, the  inculcation  of  right  precepts,  the  leading 
to  right  moral  choices,  the  cultivation  of  a  good 
conscience,  the  learning  of  the  way  of  truth,  rever- 
ence and  holiness;  in  a  word,  if  the  fear  of  the 
Lord  be  indeed  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  the 
foundation  of  all  personal,  commercial,  and  na- 
tional success  and  happiness,  then  the  institution 
having  so  serious  a  work  in  hand  deserves  our  most 
serious  consideration. 

N"o  one  who  has  observed  the  Sunday  school  in 
the  last  ten  years  can  have  failed  to  note  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  has  been  fitting  itself  to  meet  this 
opportunity.  When  home  and  school  and  lyceum 
all  taught  religion  the  Sunday  school  may  have  felt 
that  it  could  aiford  to  spend  its  time  in  playing  at 
teaching,  in  giving  a  few  individuals  a  chance  to 
take  the  lesson  text  and  from  it  to  preach  so  many 
second-hand  sermons  to  so  many  little  sufferers  on 
successive  Sundays.  But  with  the  realisation  of 
its  responsibility  for  the  work  of  religious  educa- 
tion there  has  come  an  awakening  and  a  determina- 
tion to  be  competent  for  the  task.  It  is  true  that 
not  all  has  been  done  that  many  had  hoped ;  tradi- 
tionalism and  sloth,  inefficiency  and  sentimentalism 


THE    SCHOOL   A    DEVELOPMENT    11 

still  prevail  in  places.  Nevertheless  the  school  is 
coming  to  be  worthy  of  its  place  as  the  great 
agency  for  religious  instruction  and  education. 
•When  it  understands  its  mission  and  its  task,  its 
other  deficiencies  will  be  met. 

It  might  be  asked,  why  include  chapters  on  Sun- 
day-school history  in  a  study  of  Management? 
Because  nothing  helps  us  to  understand  the  present 
better  than  the  past,  and  this  is  especially  true  of 
institutions.  Perhaps  the  first  step  to  effective 
service  in  the  school  is  an  understanding  of  its 
genesis  and  development;  its  genesis  will  reveal 
its  genius.  Only  the  briefest  review  can  be  at- 
tempted here;  but  that  will  be  suflficient  to  show 
that  this  school  is  not  an  artificial,  mechanical 
creation,  but  a  natural  development,  adaptation 
and  organisation  of  means  to  meet  man's  necessity 
for  religious  and  moral  guidance.  As  a  movement 
the  school  has  passed  through  an  evolutionary- 
process;  growth,  development,  and  improvement 
have  accompanied  it  from  the  very  beginning,  nor 
must  we  ever  think  that  we  have  come  to  the  day 
when  it  has  reached  its  full  perfection.  Eather 
may  we  rejoice  in  ever}i:hing  that  stirs  us  up  to  new 
endeavour,  to  real  progress  and  increased  efficiency 
— even  though  the  process  by  which  we  are  stirred 
be  not  altogether  pleasant  to  experience. 


II 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 
m  THE  FIRST  PERIOD 

We  find  it  hard  to  think  very  far  in  Sunday-school 
history  without  coming  to  the  name  of  Robert 
Raikes ;  indeed,  it  was  for  a  long  time  the  custom 
to  speak  of  him  as  the  Father  of  the  Sunday  school. 
Accepting,  however,  the  definition  of  the  Sunday 
school  as  an  institution  for  teaching  religious  truth, 
commonly  meeting  on  the  day  of  rest,  we  find  that 
Sunday-school  history  goes  far  back  of  the  printer 
of  Gloucester.  It,  in  principle,  antedates  the 
church  and  is  older  than  the  Jewish  nation. 

The  movement  begun  by  Robert  Raikes  marked 
an  epoch  in  Sunday-school  history;  he  stands  at 
the  dividing  line  between  the  old  and  the  new, 
between  the  school  as  the  informal  fruitage  of  a 
basic  religious  necessity  and  the  school  as  a  recog- 
nised institution  duly  fostered  by  the  church.  We 
can  then  divide  this  history  into  these  two  periods, 
First,  the  period  of  the  Informal  Movement,  up  to 
1780;  second,  the  period  of  Formal  Institutions, 
from  1780  on.  This  chapter  concerns  itself  with 
the  first  period. 

Wherever  there  has  been  a  revelation  of  God 

12 


THE    MORAL    OBLIGATION  13 

and  His  truth  men  have  felt  the  moral  compulsion 
to  tell  the  things  they  have  learned  to  one  another. 
This  has  brought  together,  either  in  the  popu- 
lar assembly  or  in  the  study  gtoup,  those  who 
were  seeking  and  those  who  were  declaring  knowl- 
edge. 

The  moral  obligation  growing  out  of  the  privi- 
lege of  receiving  truth  cannot  be  discharged  by  its 
loose  and  general  proclamation  alone;  there  has 
been  general  recognition  of  the  necessity  for  train- 
ing men  in  truth,  for  the  work  of  the  educator. 
As  men  have  learned  to  know  the  manner  and 
methods  by  which  truth  becomes  the  possession  of 
the  mind  and  the  determining  power  in  character 
they  have  applied  these  methods  to  the  inculcation 
of  religious  truth.  There  has  been  the  use,  steadily 
growing,  of  the  educational  method.  To  trace  the 
development  of  this  idea,  the  coming  of  the  Sunday 
school  into  its  place  as  an  educational  institution, 
is  to  trace  the  history  of  the  movement  and  to  enter 
into  an  understanding  of  its  principles  to-day. 
These  two  features  indicate  the  genius  of  the  Sun- 
day school :  the  moral  responsibility  to  impart  re- 
ligious truth  and  the  recognition  of  educational 
methods  as  the  best  methods  in  the  discharge  of 
this  responsibility. 
I.  In  Old  Testament  Times. 

There  are  many  instances  of  the  working  of  this 
principle  in  the  Old  Testament.    They  are  fairly 


14  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

represented  by  the  familiar  injunctions  in  Dent. 
4:9;  11:19-20.  There  is  little  mention  of  formal 
assemblies,  outside  of  the  family,  for  religious 
instruction,  the  most  notable  being  that  in  II 
Chron.  17:7-9,  in  the  account  of  the  educational 
commissioners  sent  out  by  Jehoshaphat,  and  the 
discovery  and  endeavours  made  by  Josiah,  (II 
Kings  22,  23.)  Failing  to  find  definite,  specific  in- 
stitutions for  the  religious  education  of  the  youth 
we  must  not  forget  that  this  was  the  duty  of  every 
parent,  a  duty  that  in  the  best  days  was  strongly 
emphasised,  nor  that  in  certain  instances,  as  in  the 
family  of  Ahab,  tutors  were  provided  for  this  pur- 
pose (II  Kings  10:1-6.) 

But  the  most  important  event  in  Old  Testament 
history  directly  connected  with  the  development  of 
the  Sunday  school  is  that  narrated  in  Neh.  8. 
Ezra's  popular  assembly  was  the  beginning  of  a 
propaganda  for  popularising  the  Scriptures.  As 
it  spread  there  appeared  the  necessity  for  places  of 
meeting  in  which  the  people  might  be  instructed 
in  the  writings ;  then  came  the  adoption  of  an  insti- 
tution with  which  they  had  become  familiar  in 
their  exile,  the  synagogue.  This  is  the  institutional 
link  between  the  religious  education  of  the  He- 
brews and  the  Sunday  school  of  to-day.  "  With  its 
rise,"  says  Wellhausen,  "  the  Bible  became  the  spell- 
ing-book, the  community  a  school,  religion  an 
affair  of  teaching  and  learning." 


SCRIPTURAL    PRECEDENTS  15 

II.  In  Inter-Biblical  Times. 

The  synagogues  increased  in  number  until  they 
were  to  be  found  in  every  village.  It  is  said  there 
were  at  least  about  four  hundred  in  Jerusalem 
alone.  They  grew  in  importance  and  became  the 
school-houses ;  each  having  its  teachers,  until  every 
village  also  had  its  teacher  or  "  doctor  of  the  law  " ; 
see  Luke  5:17  (R.  V.)  Fourteen  different  words 
are  used  by  writers  of  this  period  for  schools.  A 
system  of  elementary  schools  was  later  established. 
In  all  these  schools  the  principal  text-book  would, 
be,  of  course,  the  Scriptures. 
///.  In  New  Testament  Times. 

Three  kinds  of  religious  schocfls  are  found 
amongst  the  Jews:  elementary,  synagogue  schools, 
and  the  groups  for  higher  instruction  under  such 
teachers  as  Hillel  and  Shammai.  The  curriculum 
embraced  the  Scriptures,  the  Mishna,  interpreta- 
tions and  traditions  of  the  law,  "  Keeping  the 
Commandments  "  and  the  Talmud. 

In  this  period  we  find  Jesus,  the  founder  of 
instruction  in  the  Christian  religion,  who  "  went 
about  teaching"  (Matt  4:23),  and  who,  in  the 
training  of  the  apostles,  gave  a  wonderful  exhibi- 
tion of  a  religious  school,  leaving  us  his  final  in- 
junction, "  Go  teach." 

The  references  to  the  manifestations  of  the  prin- 
ciple which  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  Sunday  school 
in  later  New  Testament  times  are  too  numerous  to 


16  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

recite.     The  student    may  consult,  for  example, 
Acts  5:42,  17:11,  28:31. 

IV.  Early  Christian  Centuries. 

The  Apostles  were  teachers.  Christianity  spread 
by  teaching.  Individual  Christians  went  every- 
where "  teaching  the  word.''  The  synagogue  plans 
were  adapted  to  Christianity.  Before  the  end  of 
the  first  century  classes  and  catechetical  schools  in 
the  Christian  religion  were  in  existence.  Children 
were  brought  into  church  relations  as  catechumens 
at  the  age  of  seven.  The  instruction  of  the  young 
in  doctrine  became  the  duty  of  every  church;  we 
have  but  to  mention  the  names  of  the  leaders  in 
this  work,  Clement,  Origen,  and  Augustine.  The 
Church  Councils  required  pastors  to  maintain 
schools  for  religious  instruction.  (See  Canon  of 
the  Sixth  General  Council  of  Constantinople.)  In 
principle  the  school  was,  through  this  period,  a 
missionary  agency. 

V.  The  Mediaeval  Period. 

Through  the  dark  ages  the  church  alone,  by  bib- 
lical and  theological  instruction,  and  later,  through 
liberal  education,  kept  the  lamp  of  learning  burn- 
ing. The  outstanding  features  were,  the  rise  of 
the  Universities,  the  monastic  schools,  travelling 
teachers,  the  Bible  schools  maintained  by  the  Wal- 
denses.  It  has  been  well  argued  that  the  decline  of 
the  teaching  ministry  of  the  church  accounts  for 
the  general  failure  of  her  work.     Certainly  the 


HISTORICAL    DEVELOPMENT        17 

bright  spots  are  those  where  teaching  was  main- 
tained.   Through  this  period  the  school  was  a  pre- 
serving agency. 
VI.  The  Reformation  Period. 

Luther  urged  the  need  of  schools  in  the  churches 
and  himself  prepared  two  catechisms  for  their  use. 
Calvin  did  the  same.  The  General  Assembly  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  1570,  ordered  the  sec- 
ond service  on  each  Sunday  to  be  given  to  the  in- 
struction of  the  children  in  classes  and  by  means 
of  catechism.  The  Church  of  England,  in  1603, 
also  required  this  of  its  ministers.  The  Roman 
Church  was  quick  to  see  the  value  of  this  kind  of 
work  and  to  adopt  it;  they  have  since  given  more 
attention  to  the  religious  education  of  the  children 
than  any  other  body.  Christopher  Borromeo, 
bishop  of  Milan,  established  a  large  number  of 
Sunday  schools,  some  say  700,  having  40,000 
scholars.  History  now  begins  to  record  a  very 
large  number  of  schools  for  doctrinal  instruction, 
meeting  on  Sunday  and  also  in  the  week.  It  is 
difficult  to  separate  many  of  them,  as  agencies, 
from  the  regular  institutions  for  education;  this 
will  be  understood  when  we  remember  how  large  a 
part  of  secular  education  was  given  to  religious 
subjects,  and  how,  indeed,  the  religious  forces 
were  the  ones  keeping  all  the  educational  agencies 
alive. 

In  North  America  we  recall  at  once  the  familiar 


18  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

picture  of  the  Puritans  meeting  on  Saturday  after- 
noons for  catechetical  instruction.  But,  not  count- 
ing such  activities  as  these,  there  are  undeniable 
records  of  what  may  be  properly  called  Sunday 
schools,  since  they  met  on  that  day  and  for  the 
definite  purposes  of  a  religious  school,  studying 
the  Bible,  in  over  twenty  different  places  in  Eng- 
land and  North  America  between  1670  and  1780. 
Tracing  the  gradual  development  of  the  essential 
principles  of  the  Sunday  school  from  the  beginning 
we  are  able  to  see,  First,  the  realisation  of  the 
need  for  popular  religious  instruction;  second, 
the  use  of  the  Bible  in  this  instruction;  third,  the 
gathering  of  people  together  in  groups  for  religious 
instruction,  the  groups  gradually  forming  them- 
selves into  institutions  organised  for  educational 
purposes;  fourth,  the  use  of  the  unusual  oppor- 
tunities afforded  by  the  day  of  rest;  fifth,  the 
recognition  of  the  period  of  childhood  as  deter- 
minative in  character,  and,  therefore  constituting 
the  period  in  which  religious  education  must  be 
received;  sixth,  the  adoption  of  this  work  by  the 
church. 


Ill 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 
IN  THE  SECOND  PERIOD 

The  second  period  of  Sunday-school  history  may 
be  called  that  of  Formal  Institutions.  It 
began  when  the  principle  which  was  operative  in 
the  first  period  gave  birth  to  a  definite  institution. 

The  familiar  date,  1780,  and  the  work  of  Robert 
Raikes  marks  the  beginning  of  the  modern  Sunday- 
school  movement.  For  a  century  or  more  before 
this  there  had  been  many  individual  and  some 
associated  efforts  to  teach  the  Bible,  both  to  chil- 
dren and  to  adults;  but  there  was  lacking  any 
general  conviction  that  this  work  was  a  part  of 
the  duty  of  the  church;  there  had  been  no  sense 
of  a  common  Christian  obligation.  The  efforts 
had  been  simply  the  results  of  individual  convic- 
tion. The  second  period  witnessed  a  gradual  awak- 
ening to  a  sense  of  duty,  to  a  responsibility  for 
the  religious  education  of  the  young. 

There  are  four  easily  distinguishable  steps  of 
progress  in  the  history  of  the  Sunday  school  in  this 
second  period.  They  are :  First,  the  exploitation  of 
the  idea  by  Robert  Raikes;  second,  the  adoption 
of  the  school  by  the  church;  third,  the  develop- 

19 


20  THE  MODERN  SUN"DAY  SCHOOL 

ment  of  the  Bchool  by  means  of  associational  or- 
ganisation,  and,   fourth,   the   recognition   of   the 
school  as  an  educational  institution. 
I.  The  Work  of  Robert  Raihes. 

With  Raikes  (1735-1811)  this  work  began  where 
it  ought  to  with  all,  in  an  interest  in  and  concern 
for  the  untaught  for  their  own  sake;  he  simply 
desired  to  do  them  some  good;  it  was  some  time 
before  the  plan  of  teaching  religion  developed  in 
his  schools.  In  Gloucester,  England,  he  gathered 
destitute,  unschooled  children  into  a  house  on 
Sunday  and  began  to  teach  them  the  elements  of 
a  secular  education.  In  1780  he  engaged  the  house 
of  a  Mrs.  King,  securing  her  as  his  first  teacher 
at  the  salary  of  one  shilling  and  six-pence  (36c.) 
per  Sunday.  Other  teachers  were  secured,  and 
for  this  sum  they  are  said  to  have  worked  seven 
and  a  half  hours. 

but  the  importance  of  the  work  of  Robert 
Raikes  did  not  consist  in  the  inauguration  of  these 
schools  in  Gloucester;  others  had  done  the  same 
thing  elsewhere ;  its  value  lay  in  the  agitation  which 
he  began  in  1783  for  the  establishment  of  such 
schools  everywhere.  He  was  a  printer  and  pub- 
lisher, and  used  his  press  and  paper  in  the  service 
of  his  type  of  Sunday  school.  But  he  did  not  do 
this  rashly;  he  worked  three  years  with  his  own 
echools  before  he  published  an  account  of  them 
in  his  paper,  the  Gloucester  Journal.     The  many 


ROBERT    RAJKES  21 

inquiries  he  then  received  led  to  the  publica- 
tion of  his  plans,  first  in  the  provincial  papers 
and  then  in  some  London  magazines.  His  plan 
was  widely  adopted.  The  schools  were  called 
*^  charity  schools."  They  gave  their  attention  prin- 
cipally to  general  instruction  in  the  rudiments  of 
learning,  for  they  were  obliged  to  take  the  place 
of  any  public  school  system.  Without  doubt  these 
schools  gave  birth  to  the  modern  English  system 
of  common  elementary  schools.  Many  of  his  type 
of  "  charity  Sunday  schools  "  still  exist  in  Eng- 
land; there  are  Sunday  schools,  especially  in  the 
North,  where  adults  may  learn  to  read  and  write, 
matters  concerning  which  they  would  know  noth- 
ing without  these  schools.  The  English  people 
have  never  entirely  overcome  the  notion  that  the 
Sunday  school  is  for  the  destitute  classes  only. 

Raikes'  schools  met  with  bitter  opposition  in 
some  quarters,  especially  from  the  clergy.  But  he 
advocated  them  everywhere  by  means  of  the  press, 
and  in  1785,  in  London,  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Sunday  Schools  was  organised.  This  Society  paid 
out  in  its  lifetime  $20,000  in  wages  to  Sunday- 
school  teachers. 
II.  The  School  as  a  Church  Institution. 

It  is  hard  to  trace  in  the  United  States  any 
marked  impetus  given  to  Sunday  schools  through 
the  work  of  Raikes.  Schools  were  meeting  before 
his  day  and  continued  to  meet  in  growing  num- 


23  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

bers.  Eecords  are  held  of  schools  in  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut  and  Virginia  even  prior  to  1780. 
Their  distinctive  features,  however,  were  that  they 
were  more  truly  Bible  schools;  they  met  for  pur- 
poses of  religious  instruction,  using  as  text-books 
either  the  Bible  or  the  church  catechism.  They 
early  differed  also  from  the  schools  of  England  in 
that  they  came  directly  under  the  fostering  care 
of  the  churches  and  were  soon  adopted  by  them. 
While  some  of  the  bishops  of  England  were  fight- 
ing the  schools  in  their  country  the  Methodist 
Conference  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  was  adopting  reso- 
lutions favouring  the  organisation  of  the  schools. 
In  the  United  States  the  classes  gathered  in  the 
church  buildings.  Before  long  the  need  of  definite 
courses  of  lessons  was  felt  and  these  were  prepared 
by  the  churches,  first  by  separate  organisations,  and 
later  by  denominations.  The  idea  of  the  school 
as  a  church  institution,  the  particular  instrumen- 
tality or  activity  through  which  the  church  could 
teach  the  Bible  and  train  its  children  in  the  re- 
ligious life,  was  the  most  important  single  de- 
velopment ever  made  in  Sunday-school  history. 
It  was  for  long  peculiar  to  this  country  and  may 
be  properly  called  the  American  Sunday-school 
idea. 

III.  Development  hy  Associational  Organisation. 

The  next  important  step  in  the  United  States 

was  the  result  of  a  growing  sense  of  unity  which 


AMERICAN"  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  IDEA   23 

brought  the  workers  of  the  schools  together  in 
definite  organisations  for  the  promotion  of  their 
work.  Many  gatherings  were  held,  particularly  in 
the  East,  for  the  discussion  of  plans.  These  led 
to  formal  organisations,  and  from  this  time  the 
development  of  the  schools  may  be  traced  by  the 
'Progress  of  Organisation. 

The  first  general  organisation  was  "The  First 
Day  or  Sunday  School  Society  of  Philadelphia," 
constituted  January  11,  1791.  This  body  is  still 
in  existence.  Later  came  The  American  Sunday 
School  Union,  organized  in  1824. 

The  American  Sunday  School  Union  is  the  out- 
growth of  the  "  Society  for  the  Institution  and 
Support  of  First-day  or  Sunday  Schools,"  and  the 
Philadelphia  "  Sunday  and  Adult  School  Union." 
The  former  was  organised  in  Philadelphia  on  Jan- 
nary  11,  1791,  growing  out  of  several  conferences 
on  the  part  of  those  most  deeply  interested  in  the 
moral  and  religious  education  of  the  ignorant  and 
poor.  Several  similar  organisations  having  come 
into  existence,  it  was  seen  that  they  could  well  co- 
operate, and  on  May  27,  1817,  the  "  Sunday  and 
Adult  School  Union  "  was  formed.  This  organisa- 
tion entered  on  a  gradually  extending  work  of 
founding  and  maintaining  schools  where  the  read- 
ing and  writing  of  the  Bible  was  taught  on  Sun- 
day, until  it  had  in  its  care  723  schools.  It  was 
then  determined  at  a  meeting  of  delegates  of  this 


24  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

and  other  societies,  on  May  25,  1824,  to  make  the 
movement  national  and  to  organise  it  under  the 
name  of  the  "American  Sunday  School  Union.'^ 
The  interest  of  this  phase  of  Sunday-school  history 
lies  in  the  rapid  development  of  the  school  under 
these  organisations  from  a  school  where  destitute 
children  were  taught  to  read  and  write  the  Bible 
by  paid  teachers  to  schools  for  Bible  study  by  all, 
and  in  the  influence  which  these  societies  had  in 
promoting  the  general  organisation  of  Sunday- 
school  forces. 

The  most  valuable  work  of  the  Sunday  School 
Union  has  been  its  missionary  enterprises.  As  it 
sprung  into  being  from  efforts  to  found  schools  in 
destitute  regions,  it  has  continued  this  work  to 
this  day.  It  gave  birth  to  the  Mississippi  Valley 
movement;  its  schools  are  found,  some  of  them 
strong  churches  to-day,  in  all  the  frontier  regions, 
and  through  its  literature  it  has  been  a  promoter 
of  Sunday  schools  in  other  lands. 

As  a  result  of  the  meetings  of  the  Philadelphia 
organisation  a  national  convention  to  consider  the 
promotion  of  Sunday-school  work  was  called  and 
met  in  New  York  City  on  October  3,  1832.  This 
was  the  first  of  the  five  national  conventions  which 
preceded  the  International  Convention;  these  five 
gatherings  were  held:  New  York,  May  23,  1832; 
'Philadelphia,  May  22,  1833;  Philadelphia,  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1859;  Newark,  N.  J.,  April  28^  1S69; 


NATIONAL    ORGANISATIONS         25 

Indianapolis,  April  IG,  1872.  This  last  conven- 
tion formally  adopted  the  plan  of  uniform  lessons 
for  all  schools  to  be  issued  by  the  different  pub- 
lishers. This  was  the  plan  wrought  out  by  Mr.  B. 
P.  Jacobs  and  by  Bishop  Vincent.  It  served  an 
exceedingly  valuable  purpose  in  the  days  when  the 
work  of  the  schools  was  weak,  when  the  organisa- 
tion was  but  coming  to  its  own.  It  marked  an 
important  advance  of  methods  that  had  gone  be- 
fore, and  met  with  as  much  opposition  as  improve- 
ments which  have  since  been  suggested  also  have 
had  to  meet. 

The  sixth  national  convention,  held  at  Baltimore, 
May  11,  1875,  became  also  the  first  International 
Convention;  the  organisation  widened  its  field  to 
embrace  all  the  North  American  continent. 

State  organisations  sprang  into  being  during 
this  period;  probably  the  first  to  be  formally  or- 
ganised as  auxiliary  to  the  national  conventions 
was  the  State  of  New  York,  in  1857.  Prior  to  this 
a  number  of  States  had  had  organisations  of  their 
own  under  the  American  Sunday  School  Union. 
In  process  of  time  the  plan  of  development  ex- 
tended down  until  there  are  now  many  States  hav- 
ing every  county,  city,  and  township  organised 
with  associations  for  interdenominational  fellow- 
ship and  co-operation. 

Certain  benefits  have  come  to  nearly  all  schools 
through  the  organisations  which  have  been  created. 


26  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

The  first  has  been  the  making  of  a  literature  on 
the  lessons,  on  Sunday-school  work,  and  on  meth- 
ods and  pedagogy.  Under  the  State  and  local  or- 
ganisations Institutes  and  Conferences  have  been 
made  available  to  all.  This  has  meant  constant 
stimulation  of  teachers  and  officers,  the  comparing 
of  plans  and  the  dissemination  of  wise  and  tried 
methods. 

IV.  The  Recognition  of  the  School  as  an  Educa- 
tional Agency. 
The  Sunday  school  has  come  into  a  new  place 
in  the  last  few  years.  This  has  been  due  to 
several  causes — to  realisation  of  the  importance  of 
education,  to  the  recognition  of  the  primary  and 
important  place  of  religious  education,  to  the  dis- 
covery of  and  general  acceptance  of  the  findings 
of  modern  educational  science,  to  agitation  for  the 
application  of  the  settled  results  of  this  science  to 
the  Sunday  school,  to  the  determination  to  secure 
for  religious  education  the  very  best  methods  and 
teachers  and  to  make  it  fully  as  efficient  as  any 
other  type  of  education.  Concurrently  with  the 
organisation  of  the  Eeligious  Education  Associa- 
tion there  sprang  up  the  widespread  agitation  for 
the  training  of  Sunday-school  teachers.  Besides 
the  training  classes  conducted  by  churches  or  by 
other  organisations,  there  are  many  institutions 
which  offer  courses  of  study  in  religious  pedagogy 
and  in  Sunday-school  science,  so  that  the  workers 


THE    SCHOOL    m    EDUCATIOlSr      27 

in  this  institution  may  be  as  adequately  prepared 
for  their  work  as  is  the  pastor  of  the  church  for 
his.  Learned  men  and  leading  educators  no 
longer  consider  it  beneath  their  dignity  to  be  seen 
in  the  school,  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  giving 
their  best  thought  to  the  improvement  of  its 
methods  and  its  curriculum. 

The  steps  of  development  during  the  period  of 
organisation  may  be  traced,  then,  from  a  handful 
in  a  charity  school  to  an  institution  for  all  classes, 
all  ages,  and  enrolling  about  thirty  milion 
students;  from  elementary,  secular  instruction  to 
biblical  instruction  and  to  the  whole  curriculum  of 
religious  education;  from  a  spasmodic  or  unre- 
lated movement  to  a  generally  recognised  de- 
partment of  church  activity;  from  the  loose 
aggregation  to  compact,  well-organised  and  re- 
lated institutions,  from  many  chaotic  lessons, 
through  the  one  lesson  adopted  for  convenience, 
to  an  orderly,  complete,  graded  curriculum. 


rvi 

(PLAN    OF    OEGANISATION 

By  plan  of  organisation  we  mean  the  setting  out 
of  the  relative  places  and  duties  of  the  workers, 
the  gradations  of  the  authority  to  be  exercised  and 
the  divisions  of  the  labour  to  be  accomplished  by 
those  who  are  to  carry  on  the  activities  of  the 
school;  the  general  scheme  upon  which  all  the 
work  will  be  conducted.  The  plan  of  organisation 
for  a  factory  will  be  different  from  that  for  a 
store,  and  both  of  these  different  from  that  for  a 
school;  but  some  definite  plan  will  be  necessary 
to  all.  Carefully  prepared  and  properly  executed 
plans  of  organisation  have  not  a  little  to  do  with 
the  success  of  any  undertaking;  they  are  essential 
to  orderly,  economical  administration. 

Great  corporations  spend  much  time,  money, 
and  the  highest  skill  in  perfecting  their  plans  of 
organisation-  Elaborate  charts  are  prepared 
showing  the  relative  positions  of  all  in  authority 
and  the  route  from  the  lowliest  worker,  by  way  of 
the  officers,  to  the  head  of  the  concern.  Different 
officers  are  made  solely  responsible  for  their  de- 
partments and  they  are  answerable  only  to  their 
chiefs.     A  haphazard,  unorganised  order  would 

28 


.VALUE  OF  CAREFUL  ORGANISATION    29 

result  in  confusion  in  a  few  hours;  it  would  be 
business  anarchy. 

But  there  are  many  Sunday  schools  still  in  a 
state  of  educational  anarchy;  without  leaders  or 
followers,  every  worker  a  law  unto  himself,  with 
the  result  of  confusion,  friction  and  ineffective- 
ness. The  Sunday-school  organisation  must  not 
be  a  thing  that  has  somehow  happened.  We  owe 
it  to  the  institution,  first,  to  carefully,  deliber- 
ately, with  the  best  skill  and  experience  available, 
work  out  its  plan  of  organisation,  to  determine 
the  part  each  individual  shall  play  in  view  of  the 
ends  to  be  reached,  and,  second,  to  adhere,  with 
scrupulous  fidelity,  with  closest  respect  for  the 
rights  of  others,  and  with  growing  intelligence  as 
to  our  own  duties,  to  the  part  and  place  assigned 
to  us.  Every  worker  must  have  his  definite,  clearly 
understood  duty,  place,  and  responsibility. 

Certain  modifications  enter  in  to  determine  the 
plan  of  the  organisation: 

7.  The  Plan  of  Organisation  will  he  Modified 
hy  the  Purpose  of  the  Institution. 

In  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word  the  Sunday 
school  is  an  educational  institution,  remembering 
that  education  is  the  training  and  development  of 
all  the  powers  of  the  life  to  meet  all  the  problems 
and  to  realise  all  the  possibilities  of  the  life. 

Next,  its  special  function  is  education  in  re- 
ligion.   If  we  remember  that  religion  means  right 


30  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

relations  with  God,  with  man  and  with  nature,  that 
it  means  the  perfect  development  of  the  character, 
bringing  the  man  into  his  heritage  and  likeness 
as  the  child  of  God,  then  the  dignity  and  the  edu- 
cational importance  of  this  institution  is  manifest. 

The  school  uses  its  first  great  text-book,  the 
Bible,  as  its  source  of  moral  and  spiritual  informa- 
tion and  inspiration.  It  may  use  other  books  and 
take  other  studies ;  but  in  the  main  it  is  primarily 
a  Bible  school.  By  this  means  it  carries  out  the 
educational  purposes  of  the  church.  It  is  a  defi- 
nite department  of  church  activity,  the  school  of 
the  church,  or  the  teaching  agency  of  the  church, 
obeying  the  commission,  "  Go  teach."  Its  pur- 
pose may  then  be  briefly  stated  as  the  execution 
of  the  duty  of  the  church  in  religious  education. 

//.  The  Plan  of  Organisation  will  he  Modified 
"by  the  Basis  of  Authority. 

The  manner  in  which  the  affairs  of  any  institu- 
tion shall  be  administered  depends  on  the  au- 
thority governing  it. 

If  the  Sunday  school  is  a  department  of  the 
church,  having  grown  out  of  the  church  and  ex- 
isting to  serve  the  church  and  carry  on  its  work, 
then  the  church  must  govern  the  school;  the  basis 
of  authority  will  lie  in  the  church.  The  church 
will  pass  on  its  plans,  will  elect  or  appoint  its 
principal  administrative  officers,  will  constantly 
exercise  oversight,  will  properly  support,  will  as- 


DETERMINATIVE    PRIlSrCIPLES       31 

sist  in  every  way,  and  will  be  the  final  authority 
regarding  all  questions  arising  in  the  school. 

III.  The  Plan  of  Organisation  will  he  Modified 
by  the  Conditions  of  Operation. 

The  conditions  peculiar  to  the  school  are:  it  is 
manned  by  a  corps  of  volunteer  workers  (except 
in  instances  at  present  rare) ;  the  attendance  of 
its  students  is  secured  without  physical,  social  or 
civil  compulsion,  and  in  the  greater  number  of 
cases,  without  ecclesiastical  pressure ;  it  is  at  work, 
in  most  cases,  only  once  a  week^  and  then  for  but 
a  short  period. 

IV.  The  Plan  of  Organisation  will  he  Modified 
hy  the  Method  of  Work. 

Since  the  school  is  the  institution  for  carrying 
out  the  educational  work  of  the  church  its  method 
will  have  to  be  mainly  that  of  teaching.  Here 
the  work  of  the  school,  the  spiritual  culture  of  the 
student  and  his  equipment  and  training  for  ser- 
vice in  the  kingdom,  is  accomplished  principally 
by  teaching.  Other  divisions  of  the  church  will 
use  other  methods;  but  teaching  is  the  method  of 
the  school. 

With  these  modifications  in  mind  we  may  say 
that  the  Sunday-school  is  an  educational  institu' 
Hon,  meeting  once  a  weeh,  under  the  direction  of 
the  church,  engaged  in  teaching  religious  truth 
and  training  in  Christian  character  and  service. 

The  characteristic  of  an  educational  institution 


32  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

and  the  plan  of  work  by  teaching  are  the  all-im- 
portant determinative  factors  in  Sunday  school 
organisation. 

Wherever,  under  these  conditions,  you  have  a 
group  of  persons  engaged  in  teaching  religious 
truth  you  have  a  Sunday  school.  Often,  as  in 
mission  schools  or  those  on  the  frontier,  the  factor 
of  the  church  will  be  absent. 

Wherever  you  have  a  group  of  persons  engaged 
in  teaching  one  general  subject  there  will  be  a 
Principal,  a  leader,  or  Principals  directing  the 
work.  All  other  offices  and  officers  grow  out  of, 
and  are  related  to  the  work  that  these  two.  Prin- 
cipal and  teachers,  have  to  do.  The  order  will  be 
somewhat  as  follows,  with  substantial  modifica- 
tions, according  to  individual  conditions : 

The  Superintendent^  or  Principal^  as  the 
director  of  the  work  of  teaching,  having  general 
oversight  of  the  exercises  and  activities  of  the 
whole  school.  Sometimes  there  are  Assistant 
Superintendents;  usually,  however,  this  is  an 
empty  office,  tending  only  to  embarrass  the  school 
machinery.  The  Superintendent  comes  into  di- 
rect relation  to  the 

Division  Principals,  each  in  charge  of  a 
Division,  engaged  in  directing  the  teaching  work 
thereof,  and  overseeing  its  activities.  Directly 
reporting  and  responsible  to  these  are : 

The    Teachers.    These    are    responsible    for 


RELATIONS    OF    OFFICERS  33 

their  classes,  each  for  his  own  little  group  alone. 
The  teachers  constitute  the  keystone  of  the  school. 
The  foregoing  are  the  absolutely  essential  officers 
of  the  school,  the  number  of  each  being  dependent 
on  the  size  of  the  school. 

There  follow  certain  other  officers,  usually  hav- 
ing relations  to  the  school  as  a  whole,  the  servants 
of  its  general  activities. 

The  Pastor^  as  the  representative  of  the 
church,  is  the  pastor  of  the  school.  While  the 
execution  of  the  work  is  committed  to  others  he 
has  the  same  care  for  this  department  of  church 
work  as  for  any  other.  In  some  schools  he  is 
placed  at  the  head  of  a  strong  committee  on 
Church  affiliation,  or  on  Spiritual  work.  In 
others  he  teaches  a  class  of  teachers. 

Secretaries^  as  assistants  to  the  work  of 
teaching,  by  keeping  the  records  of  attendance, 
work,  standings,  grades,  etc.,  of  all  students,  and 
the  work  of  teachers. 

Treasurer,  promoting  the  work  of  teaching  by 
securing  funds. 

Organist  and  Chorister  directly  contributing 
to  teaching  by  leading  in  worship. 

Librarians^  supplementing  work  of  teaching  by 
literature. 

Ushers,  Doormen,  Messengers,  aiding  in 
work  of  teaching  by  care  for  physical  comfort, 
order  and  economy. 


34  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

Interwoven  into  these  there  will  be  such  com- 
mittees as  may  be  needed. 

All  these,  like  the  teachers,  are  directly  respon- 
eible  to  the  Principals,  that  is  where  they  are 
Secretaries,  Treasurers,  etc.,  of  divisions;  where 
they  serve  the  whole  school  they  would  report  to 
the  Superintendent. 

Departmental  Officers.  Certain  phases  of 
Sunday  school  work  are  usually  correlated  to 
the  general  work  by  setting  up  special  depart- 
ments for  them.  Thus  the  extension  work  of  the 
school,  the  study  of  the  lessons  in  the  homes, 
or  in  other  places  by  those  who  are  unable  to  at- 
tend the  regular  sessions,  is  in  charge  of  the  Home 
Department.  This  department  will  have  a  Super- 
intendent, reporting  directly  to  the  Superintendent 
of  the  whole  school,  with  such  assistants  in  mes- 
sengers and  secretaries  as  may  be  necessary.  This 
also  applies  to  the  Cradle  Roll  Department;  the 
simple  purpose  here  being  to  identify  the  children 
with  the  school  as  soon  as  they  come  into  the  world 
by  enrolling  their  names,  observing  their  birth- 
days, enlisting  their  parents  and  co-operating  with 
them  in  bringing  the  child  to  the  school  when  it 
has  reached  the  proper  age. 

Some  schools  have  a  Teacher-training  Depart- 
ment which  not  only  cares  for  the  classes  which, 
in  the  regular  grades,  are  preparing  for  teaching, 
but  also  promotes  the  organisation  and  cares  for 


EELATIONS    OF    DEPAKTMENTS     35 

the  conduct  of  such  classes  meeting  during  the 
week.  This  work  is  considered  more  fully  in  the 
chapter  on  Training  the  Working  Forces. 

The  organisation  of  these  departments  must  not 
be  confused  with  those  divisions  of  the  grades  in 
the  school  which  are  sometimes  called  departments, 
as  Primary  Department,  etc.  To  avoid  confusion 
it  is  much  better  to  call  these  larger  divisions  of 
th^  school  by  this  name,  that  is,  for  example. 
Primary  Division,  etc. 

The  Adult  Department.  Within  the  past  few 
years  there  has  sprung  up  a  new  force  in  the 
Sunday  school,  that  of  the  organised  activities  of 
young  men  and  young  women.  If  there  has  been 
a  decline  in  the  direct  value  and  activity  of  the 
young  people's  society  it  has  been  more  than  coun- 
terbalanced by  the  development  of  interest  and 
service  of  young  people  in  the  school  of  the  church. 
Perhaps  the  emphasis  properly  laid  by  the  young 
people's  societies  on  the  necessity  for  trained  serv- 
ice has  led  the  force  of  the  movement  to  apply 
itself  to  the  school. 

There  are,  however,  in  what  is  known  as  "  the 
Adult  Bible  Class  movement "  tendencies  and 
promises  so  important  to  the  Sunday  school  as  to 
deserve  our  careful  consideration ;  a  separate  chap- 
ter is  therefore  devoted  to  this  department  or 
phase  of  Sunday  school  work. 

In  considering  the  relative  duties  and  responsi- 


36  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

bilities  of  officers  it  is  well  always  to  remember 
that  while  there  may  be  degrees  of  authority  and 
differences  in  positions  there  is  no  difference  in 
glory,  if  but  fidelity  mark  the  work.  There  must 
be  degrees  of  authority  and  differences  in  position 
and  duties  if  the  work  is  to  be  accomplished  effi- 
ciently and  without  friction.  It  may  well  be  the 
duty  of  all  to  endeavour  to  bring  all  the  working 
forces  into  right  correlation,  so  that  each  may  co- 
operate with  all  others  and  all  together  produce 
the  best  results. 

There  are  certain  unifying  forces  which  must 
run  through  all  the  organisation.  Some  of  these 
are :  First,  A  strong  sense  of  a  single,  worthy  aim, 
a  truly  noble  esprit  de  corps.  Second,  A  spirit  of 
mutual  forbearance,  sympathy,  and  deference,  the 
spirit  of  the  great  Teacher.  Third,  The  use  of 
practical  means  of  bringing  together  the  workers 
and  organising  the  forces,  such  as  (a)  Frequent 
division  conferences,  for  all  the  teachers  and 
workers  in  each  division;  (b)  Conferences  for  all 
the  workers  in  the  school;  Teachers'  Meetings; 
(c)  Gatherings  of  the  School  Council,  or  Faculty, 
in  which  representatives  of  each  division,  or  it 
may  be  all  the  teachers,  discuss  the  work  of  the 
whole  school;  (d)  The  Pastor  and  the  Superin- 
tendent as  the  personal  unifying  factors  of  every 
division  and  in  every  activity  of  the  school;  (e) 
The  conception  of  the  school  as  an  educational 


UNIFYING    FORCES  37 

institution;  recognising  the  great  work  it  has  to 
do,  teachers  must  see  the  dignity  of  their  positions ; 
they  will  cease  to  play  at  Sunday  school  and  begin 
together  to  do  real,  painstaking  work;  they  will 
endeavour  to  make  all  the  parts  of  their  work  fit 
together  for  the  properly  proportioned  develop- 
ment of  the  student's  religious  life. 

We  have  spoken  only  of  organising  the  working 
forces  of  the  school,  the  teachers  and  officers;  but 
no  organisation  can  be  complete  without  the  con- 
sideration of  the  scholars.  So  far  as  the  greater 
number  of  the  problems  connected  with  their  or- 
ganisation are  concerned,  they  are  discussed  in  the 
chapters  on  Recruiting  Students^  and  Grading 
THE  School.  It  is,  however,  well  to  remember  that 
in  this  organisation  the  student  must  grow  into  a 
part  in  its  management  and  maintenance.  This 
school  exists  not  only  to  send  out  people  who  are 
well  informed  in  biblical  history,  chronology,  and 
ethics;  it  exists  to  lead  into  Christian  life  and 
train  for  service  in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

To  accomplish  the  work  of  training  for  this 
life  and  service  it  must  seek  out  and  use  every 
possible  opportunity  for  the  child's  natural  self- 
activities  to  express  the  things  he  is  learning. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  pedagogical  organisation 
of  the  school,  one  that  provides  for  the  child's 
learning  by  doing.  Not  alone  may  he  learn  by 
doing  the  different  things  devised  and  known  as 


38  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

*^  manual  exercises,"  *  all  usually  excellent  in  them- 
selves, but  also,  by  doing  service  in  the  school. 
Each  student  can  early  be  brought  to  feel  his  share 
in  the  activities  of  the  school  without  at  any  time 
weakening  its  authority  over  him.  Such  a  co- 
operation will  have  its  effect  on  him  in  preparing 
him  for  yet  larger  usefulness  and,  also,  in  so 
identifying  him  with  the  institution  that  he  will 
find  it  hard,  should  he  ever  be  so  inclined,  to 
break  the  ties  of  association  and  service  binding 
him  to  it.  Good  common  sense,  with  some  under- 
standing of  child-nature,  will  be  needed  in  so  plan- 
ning the  organisation  that  the  student  may  have 
an  educative  share  in  its  work;  they  must  not  be 
made  to  teach  while  still  needing  to  be  taught; 
they  must  not  be  given  authority ;  they  must  learn 
to  obey,  to  serve,  to  appreciate  the  helpfulness  of 
helping.  Their  place  of  service  must  grow  larger 
as  they  advance  in  the  school. 

The  plan  of  organisation  outlined  above  would 
appear  on  an  "  organisation  chart "  somewhat  as 
follows : 

♦  See  chapter  on  Manual  Methods. 


SCHEME  OF  ORGANISATION 
THE  CHURCH 


GENERAL  SUPERINTENDENT 

Assistant   Superintendent 

General 
Secretary 

Principal  of  Div.  I  "Kindrgtn"! 

Assistant 
Secretary 

Teachers 

Secretary 
of  Enroll- 
ment 

Supervisor 

Prii 

icipalof  Div.  II  "Elem'ty"  | 

^of 
Instruction 

Pri 

Assistant 
Secretary 

Teachers 

Treasurer 

> 
ncipal  Div.  Ill  "  Secondary" 

Assistant 
Secretary 

Teachers 

Chorister 

Supervisor 

Pri 

ncipal  of  Div.  '. 

V    "Senior" 

^of 
Instruction 

Librarian 

Assistant 
Secretary 

Teachers 

> 

Com- 
mittees 

Principal   of    Div.    V    "Adult  "^ 

Supervisor 
.of 
Instruction 

Assistant 
Secretary 

Teachers 

Ushers, 
etc. 

Pri 

ncipal  "  Home  Department" 

Secretaries 

Messengers 

V 

OFFICERS  AND  THEIR  DUTIES 

The  last  chapter  discussed  the  place  of  each  officer 
in  relation  to  all  the  others  and  in  relation  to  the 
scheme  of  the  whole  school.  Here  we  are  to  take 
■up  each  officer  separately  and  consider  his  qualifi- 
cations and  duties. 

/.  The  Superintendent. 

A.  His  Qualifications.  First  of  all  will  come 
high  moral  character.  Nothing  will  take  the  place 
of  this.  At  the  head  of  an  institution  for  the  for- 
mation of  Christian  character  he  must  show  the 
Christian  life  as  one  of  clear  rectitude,  transparent 
purity,  ennobled  manhood.  He  should  be  not 
without  experience  in  the  Christian  life ;  no  matter 
how  earnest  and  sincere  the  man  may  be  this  is 
not  the  place  for  the  raw  recruit;  he  must  learn 
to  follow  before  he  can  lead.  He  should  be  a 
graduate  of  a  Sunday  school,  possessed  of  sufficient 
biblical  knowledge  to  enable  him  to  wisely  direct 
its  teaching,  though  it  is  by  no  means  essential 
that  he  shall  be  a  graduate  of  a  theological  semi- 
nary. He  will  certainly  need  an  understanding 
of  at  least  the  elementary  and  fundamental  prin- 

40 


THE    SUPERINTENDENT  41 

ciples  of  education.  It  should  be  his  business  to 
acquaint  himself  with  the  principles  of  teaching 
that  he  may  be  a  sympathetic^,  wise  leader  of  teach- 
ers. It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  speak  of  his  need 
of  executive  ability,  the  power  of  organisation  and 
execution,  though  this  is  often  disastrously  lack- 
ing. He  should  know  how  to  lead,  how  to  get 
others  to  work,  how  to  smooth  out  ruffled  feelings 
and  reconcile  differences.  He  needs  the  three  ele- 
ments of  good  temper,  self-control,  sympathy  and 
hopefulness. 

B.  His  Duties.  To  direct  the  general  activities 
of  all  the  divisions  of  the  school.  This  will  be 
accomplished  through  his  division-officers,  but  not 
through  them  alone;  he  will  seek  a  first-hand 
knowledge  of  every  detail  and  of  every  individual. 
No  time  will  be  lost  that  is  spent  in  learning  to 
know  by  name  and  circumstances  every  scholar. 
He  must  be  more  than  a  cold,  formal  director  of 
others.  His  life  should  run  through  every  part 
of  the  school  and  all  feel  its  power.  Educational 
and  executive  qualifications  are  worthless  without 
that  love  for  folks  that  will  force  him  to  know 
and  win  all,  while  many  other  deficiencies  can  be 
supplied  if  this  abound.  He  should  visit  every 
room  and  class,  not  to  interrupt,  but  to  familiarise 
himself  with  all  and  with  the  work  of  all.  He 
must  constantly  watch  for  plans  and  opportunities 
of  improvement.     On  him  rests  the  duty  of  keep- 


42  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

ing  the  school  keyed  up.  He  oils  all  the  machinery. 
He  must  also  keep  in  touch  with  the  best  approved 
educational  methods.  Nothing  is  too  good  for 
the  Sunday  school.  Let  him  learn  to  seek  the 
best,  avoiding  the  meretricious,  the  spectacular, 
and  lead  his  school  into  effective  service.  He  must 
be  the  advocate  of  the  school  to  the  church,  to- 
gether with  the  pastor  presenting  to  the  official 
meetings  its  claims  on  the  financial  and  moral 
support  of  the  church. 

C.  His  Dangers.  He  is  in  danger  of  an  en- 
thusiasm as  refreshing  as  the  morning  dew  at  the 
beginning  of  his  term,  but  no  more  enduring  when 
the  day  of  difficulties  sets  in.  A  few  superin- 
tendents are  consumed  with  their  own  dignity. 
Others  become  petrified  in  themselves  and  ce- 
mented to  their  positions.  Many  are  conducting 
the  school  under  what  would  have  been  a  good  plan 
when  they  were  young;  they  are  a  tfecade  late. 
Still  others  spoil  the  best  plans  by  too  much  at- 
tention to  trifles;  they  are  fussers,  hurrying  hither 
and  thither,  often  making  more  noise  crying 
"  Order !  Order ! "  than  all  the  other  disturbers 
put  together.  For  these  defects  there  is  usually 
but  one  cure,  retirement.  No  sentiment  attaching 
to  a  superintendent  should  impair  the  efficiency 
of  the  school. 

D.  How  Chosen.  Usually  by  the  church ;  never 
without  careful  consideration ;  often  upon  nomina- 


THE    SUPERINTENDENT  43 

tion  by  the  school  faculty  or  the  church  committee 
on  education;  never  by  the  vote  of  the  school. 

E.  Term  of  Office.  If  the  church  or  the  com- 
mittee selecting  the  superintendent  but  use  proper 
care,  seeking,  with  the  good  of  the  school  as  their 
sole  motive,  for  the  best  man,  there  can  be  little 
danger  in  giving  him  at  least  a  year  in  which  to 
work  out  his  plans  and  to  "  make  good."  The 
number  of  terms  he  should  serve  must  depend 
principally  upon  his  continued  fitness,  his  growing 
ability.  Never  should  a  man  be  retained  in  this 
office  for  fear  that  failure  to  re-elect  him  would 
hurt  his  feelings.  The  efficiency  of  so  important 
an  agency  as  the  school  must  ever  be  paramount  to 
any  man's  feelings,  no  matter  how  large  they  may 
bulk  in  his  perspective.  A  good  man  will  not  de- 
eire  to  retain  an  office  as  an  honour  when  he  can  no 
longer  discharge  its  duties  properly.  But  a  thor- 
oughly good  man  may  not  always  know  his  weak- 
ness and  failure;  yet  the  school  must  not  be 
sacrificed  to  him. 

The  superintendency  has  been  the  training- 
school  of  some  of  the  most  capable  and  widely 
useful  leaders  of  Sunday  school  service  in  the 
world. 

F.  The  Paid  Superintendent.  So  large  are 
the  interests,  so  intricate  the  activities,  so  manifold 
the  demands  of  many  modern  schools  that  few 
men  are  able  properly  to  oversee  them  and  to  con- 


44  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

duct  their  own  affairs.  Besides  this  there  has 
come  about  a  recognition  that  the  work  of  the 
Sunday  school  as  an  educational  institution  calls 
for  expert,  specially  trained  ability,  that  in  the 
larger  schools  the  leader  ought  to  be  an  educator 
especially  trained  in  religious  pedagogy  and  in 
modern  Sunday-school  science.  We  therefore  find 
schools  of  religious  pedagogy,  giving  courses  in  the 
special  work  of  the  superintendent  and  the  school 
worker,  while  many  theological  schools  are  offering 
similar  courses  for  those  who  desire  to  take  up 
this  work.  Schools  are  engaging  capable  men  and 
women,  graduates  of  these  institutions  or  of  the 
school  of  experience  and  special  training,  and  pay- 
ing them  salaries  for  service  as  superintendents. 
Sometimes  the  school  still  retains  its  volunteer 
superintendent  while  employing  the  salaried  worker 
as  Sunday-school  director.  In  other  cases  this  po- 
sition is  combined  with  that  of  Assistant  Pastor. 

II.  Division  Principals. 

These  officers,  sometimes  called  Assistant  Su- 
perintendents, or  Superintendents  of  Departments, 
each  have  direct  charge  and  oversight  of  one 
division  of  the  school.  For  his  division  each  is 
immediately  responsible  to  the  Superintendent. 
The  qualifications  of  the  office  are  about  the  same 
as  for  the  superintendent,  remembering  that  their 
duties  lie  in  a  smaller  sphere.  The  office  must 
not  be  regarded  as  a  minor  one,  for  the  success 


DIVISIONS,  PEINCIPALS,  TEACHERS      45 

and  efficiency  of  the  division  will  depend  on  its 
principal.  He  must  know  just  what  is  being  done 
in  every  class,  at  all  times;  he  must  foster  every 
interest,  inspire  every  teacher,  and  cause  the 
machinery  of  his  division  to  move  smoothly  and 
to  turn  out  good  work;  he  must  be  ever  on  the 
alert  to  institute  improved  methods,  to  raise  the 
standards  of  teaching  and  increase  the  efficiency 
of  his  division.  The  position  makes  a  splendid 
training  school  for  the  general  superintendency, 
and  from  it  the  latter  office  should  often  be 
filled. 

The  term  of  office  should  be  of  the  same  length 
as  that  of  the  superintendent,  save  that  the  latter 
should  have  the  power  to  remove  any  principal 
after  consultation  with  the  pastor.  Probably  the 
wisest  plan  for  the  election  of  division  principals 
is  to  have  them  nominated  by  the  superintendent. 

III.  Teachers. 

The  qualifications  of  the  teacher  and  his  duties, 
so  far  as  they  concern  the  organisation  of  the 
school,  are  discussed  in  the  chapter  on  Class 
Work  ;  of  course  the  whole  subject  of  the  work  of 
teaching  could  be  fully  treated  only  in  a  discussion 
of  pedagogy.  Teachers  should  be  chosen  or  ap- 
pointed by  the  Superintendent  in  conference  with 
his  Cabinet.  In  a  graded  school  their  term  of 
service  with  a  class  will  be  co-extensive  with  the 
stay  of  that  class  in  the  teacher's  grade.     The 


46  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

term  of  service  in  the  grade  will  depend  on  ability 
to  do  the  work  there.  Superintendents  ought  not 
to  hesitate  to  take  the  attitude  that  a  teacher's 
continuance  is  conditioned  on  ability  to  do  the 
work.  It  is  true  they  are  voluntary  workers,  but 
even  that  does  not  confer  on  them  the  right  to 
offer  in  religious  service  that  which  would  not  be 
accepted  elsewhere.  Expect  your  teachers  to  fit 
themselves  and  they  will  meet  your  expectations. 
People  are  usually  up  to  the  mark  we  set  for  them. 
(See  the  chapter  on  Training  the  Working 
Forces.) 

Usually  women  should  teach  infants,  young 
children,  girls,  and  women;  men  should  teach 
boys  and  men.  Women  may  well,  indeed,  for 
many  reasons,  best  teach  all  up  to  tlie  begin- 
ning of  the  period  of  adolescence,  say  up  to 
thirteen  or  fourteen.  The  nature  of  the  child  is 
best  met  by  that  of  the  feminine  and  maternal 
being.  But,  for  boys  from  these  ages  on,  there  is 
deep  and  fundamental  necessity  for  the  virile  life 
of  a  man.  The  best  of  women  cannot  meet  the 
needs  of  the  boy's  nature;  the  best  of  women  may 
work  harm  to  him  at  this  period.  Only  a  woman 
can  know  the  nature,  the  heart,  and  experience  of 
a  girl ;  only  the  man  those  of  a  boy,  and  it  is  upon 
these  that  the  teaching  must  be  built.  Very 
largely  these  arguments  also  apply  to  the  adapta- 
tion of  the  teachers  for  young  men  and  young 


SECRETAEIES  47 

women.  Under  no  circumstances  should  one  of 
an  opposite  sex  be  placed  in  charge  of  such  a 
class  in  the  expectation  that  differences  in  sex 
will  attract  and  hold. 

IV.  General  Secretary. 

The  General  Secretary  should  be  elected  or  ap- 
pointed by  the  church.  He  keeps  accurate  record 
of  all  the  business,  statistics,  and  history  of  the 
school.  In  the  large  school  the  details  for  his 
records  will  come  up  to  him  through  the  Division 
Secretaries.  He  enables  the  Superintendent  to 
keep  his  finger  on  the  pulse  of  the  school.  He 
is  able  to  render  valuable  service  by  readily  fur- 
nishing accurate  statistics  to  the  larger  Sunday 
school  organisations,  such  as  the  state  Association, 
or  to  others  seeking  information.  He  also  keeps 
an  accurate  record  of  business  transacted  at  the 
executive  councils  and  similar  meetings. 

Y.  Corresponding  Secretary. 

Many  schools  find  it  worth  while  to  have  one 
who  will,  without  pay  usually,  do  the  work  of  a 
stenographer  on  school  business,  conducting  not 
only  the  general  correspondence  of  the  school,  but 
also  that  between  the  officers  and  the  scholars,  as 
sending  out  notices  to  absentees,  sending  reports 
to  parents,  etc. 

YI.  Enrollment  Secretary. 

This  officer  keeps  the  record  of  all  who  belong 
to  the  school,  entering  their  names  on  their  ad- 


48  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

mission,  often  determining  their  grades  or  classes, 
and  keeping  the  records  of  their  standings  and 
promotions  through  the  school. 

VII.  Division  Secretaries. 

These  are  needed  only  in  the  large  school,  to 
gather  the  statistics  from  each  division  and  report 
them  to  the  General  Secretary. 

7777.  Ushers. 

Not  patriarchs  in  frock  coats,  but  friendly 
young  people  who  will  welcome  strangers  and  par- 
ticularly new  scholars,  conduct  them  to  the  En- 
rollment Secretary,  assist  in  the  movement  of 
classes,  the  discipline  of  the  school,  the  arrange- 
ment of  seats  and  partitions,  guard  the  doors  dur- 
ing worship,  and  assist  the  Superintendent  in 
opening  and  closing  the  school.  The  office  offers 
fine  opportunities  for  engaging  the  activities  of 
young  men,  and  keeping  them  in  the  school;  they 
like  the  work. 

The  Treasurer  and  the  Financial  Secretary  are 
treated  in  the  chapter  on  Finances  ;  the  Librarian 
in  that  on  Library;  the  Chorister  in  that  on 
Programme. 

IX.  Committees. 

The  most  important  will  be  that  which  may  be 
known  as  the  Cabinet  or  the  Council;  the  name  is 
immaterial  so  long  as  it  stands  for  the  group  of 
executive  officers  who  counsel  together  on  the  in- 
terests of  the  school.    Such  a  group  is  much  more 


COMMITTEES  49 

capable  of  settling  many  questions  than  the  whole 
school  of  undisciplined  minds;  often  it  serves  an 
excellent  purpose  in  thinking  out  and  setting  be- 
fore the  teachers  plans  for  the  school.  It  must 
never  degenerate  into  a  Star  Chamber. 

Other  useful  committees  would  be  such  as  Wor- 
ship,  Benevolence,  Instruction — having  care  for 
the  course  of  study — Library,  Edifice,  Special 
Programmes,  with  such  others  as  may  be  occa- 
sionally needed  for  special  duties. 

These  committees  may  usually  be  selected  at  a 
Teachers'  Meeting. 

X.  Departmental  Officers. 

In  such  departments  of  work  as  the  Home  De- 
partment and  the  Cradle  Eoll,  with  whatever 
others  may  be  needed,  there  is  usually  work  for  a 
Superintendent  or  Director  and  a  Secretary-treas- 
urer, each  of  these  reporting  directly  to  the  Su- 
perintendent of  the  school.  Under  them  there 
would  be  such  assistants,  as  messengers  and  visit- 
ors, as  their  work  may  need. 

XI.  Installation  of  Officers, 

The  church  can  well  afford  to  give  one  of  its 
regular  services  to  magnifying  the  office  it  confers 
on  its  Sunday-school  workers.  On  the  first  Sunday 
of  the  school  year  all  the  officers  and  the  teachers 
should  be  publicly  installed.  Let  the  exercises 
take  place  at  the  hour  of  the  morning  or  the  even- 
ing service;  let  them  be  thoroughly  dignified  in 


50  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

character,  with  the  pastor's  sermon  and  all  the 
service  arranged  to  remind  of  the  Sunday  school, 
to  deepen  the  sense  of  its  importance  and  to  turn 
the  minds  of  the  people  to  a  sense  of  the  need  and 
value  of  religious  education. 


VI 

THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

The  best  schools  are  usually  those  which  the  pastor 
understands  best  and  serves  most  intelligently. 
The  need  of  the  present  is  pastors  who  will  ap- 
preciate the  school,  who  will  realise  that  from  the 
school  comes  the  church,  that  the  school  is  making 
Christians  during  the  only  time  of  life  in  which 
any  large  numbers  are  made,  who  understands 
that  it  is  better  to  keep  one  young  life,  with  its 
unused  stores  of  usefulness  for  the  kingdom,  than 
to  win  back  many  worn-out  lives.  The  seminaries 
are  to-day  training  pastors  who  know  these  things 
and  who,  a  matter  of  no  less  importance,  under- 
stand the  educational  principles  of  the  modern 
school.  If  the  pastor  appears  indifferent  to  the 
school,  let  some  one  quietly  make  him  a  gift  of  a 
book  or  books  that  will  quicken  his  appreciation 
of  its  importance,  and  lead  to  an  understanding 
of  its  principles.  Let  others  send  him  to  the  great 
conventions  where  such  things  are  discussed.  Let 
him  be  brought  by  every  means  into  closest  touch 
with  the  present  widespread  and  mighty  move- 
ment for  modern,  effective  religious  education. 
That  he  may  give  his  best  service  to  the  school 

51 


52  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

it  is  not  often  necessary  that  the  pastor  be  given 
a  class  regularly,  neither  is  it  wise  for  him  to  be- 
come the  superintendent.  His  is  the  wider  work 
of  watching,  inspiring,  teaching  others,  being  in- 
deed pastor  of  the  school. 

I.  The  Pastor's  Place  in  the  School.  It  should 
be  clearly  understood  that  he  has  a  place  and  that, 
first  of  all,  and  determinative  of  any  work  he  may 
do  in  the  school,  his  place  is  that  of  Pastor  of  the 
school.  He  is  its  spiritual  head.  The  school  is 
in  the  church,  not  outside ;  he  is  as  much  its  pastor 
as  he  is  pastor  of  the  church  when  it  gathers  for 
worship.  It  rests  with  him  very  largely  whether 
he  will  take  this  position,  and  so  unify  the  school 
with  all  other  activities  of  the  church.  There  are 
few  schools  unwilling  to  give  the  pastor  every  op- 
portunity to  shepherd  them,  and  to  direct  all  their 
spiritual  life.  When  we  have  passed  through  an 
examination  of  all  the  personal  elements  that  go 
to  determine  the  success  or  failure  of  the  school, 
we  come  at  last  to  the  pastor ;  the  teachers  may  be 
the  root  of  the  matter,  but  the  pastor  has  the  busi- 
ness of  nurturing  the  root.  Given  the  pastor  who 
thoroughly  understands  the  business  of  the  school 
and  believes  in  it,  he  will  find  a  way  to  organise  it 
aright,  and  to  discover  and  train  the  efficient 
workers.  In  nearly  every  case,  the  truly  success- 
ful school  has  in  its  pastor  a  man  who  is  truly 
the  pastor  of  the  whole  school. 


THE    PASTOE'S    PLACE  53 

The  pastor  should  have  literally  a  place  in  the 
school,  that  is  he  should  be  present  whenever  possi- 
ble. Since  the  school  meets  on  his  busiest  day,  it 
may  not  be  expected  that  he  will  do  the  same  work, 
nor  always  be  able  to  give  the  same  time  to  the 
school  that  can  be  given  by  those  who  have  no 
other  exacting  duties.  He  may  not  always  teach 
a  class,  or,  if  he  does,  he  may  not  always  be  present 
at  the  opening  and  closing  exercises.  The  school 
officers  must  not  ask  too  much  of  him  on  this  day. 
But  the  wise  pastor  will  see  in  the  school  his  larg- 
est opportunity.  Nowhere  does  he  come  closer  to 
developing  lives;  nowhere  can  he  lead  his  people 
in  more  practical  or  valuable  work.  Here  in  the 
school  the  church  of  to-morrow  is  being  deter- 
mined ;  here  also,  through  the  service  of  its  officers 
and  teachers,  the  church  of  to-day  is  being 
moulded ;  the  best  people  in  the  school  are  the  best 
people  all  through  the  church.  With  less  effort, 
with  greater  economy,  in  a  more  natural  manner 
the  pastor  may  here  build  up  his  church. 

II.  The  Pastor* s  Problems  in  Relation  to  the 
School.  The  truth  is  that  the  principal  prob- 
lems that  perplex  the  pastor  here  are  due  to  his 
ignorance  of  the  exact  purpose  of  the  school;  he 
has  never  thought  out  carefully  just  what  the 
school  is  for,  and  how  it  should  be  organised  to 
carry  out  its  purposes.  He  has  accepted  the  insti- 
tution as  one  which  he  found  on  the  ground;  he 


54  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

assists  in  its  continuance  because  it  would  not  do 
to  disturb  such  a  time-honoured  institution.  He 
often  needs,  much  more  than  do  his  officers,  a 
course  of  study  in  Sunday  school  principles,  partic- 
ularly as  to  its  organisation  and  management. 
Then,  too,  other  problems  arise  because,  while 
this  is  a  teaching  institution,  the  pastor  has  had 
no  training  as  a  teacher;  he  is  ignorant  both  of 
general  pedagogy  and  of  religious  pedagogy.  He 
is  trained  to  preach,  and  that  is  quite  different 
from  learning  to  teach.  He,  therefore,  needs 
grounding  in  the  elemental  principles  of  pedagogy. 
No  pastor  can  tackle  the  problems  of  his  school, 
no  pastor  can  successfully  co-operate  with  the  in- 
telligent workers  in  his  school,  unless  he  shall 
take  the  time  to  acquaint  himself  with  these 
things.  Sunday-school  administration  and  even 
its  spiritual  oversight — for  this  cannot  be  divorced 
from  its  practical  government,  cannot  be  acquired 
by  intuition — is  not  so  easy  as  to  be  accidental. 
There  are  certain  practical  problems,  however, 
which  are  not  entirely  settled  by  a  knowledge  of 
pedagogy  or  of  administration.  Eor  example, 
there  is  the  relation  of  the  school  to  the  services  of 
the  church,  as  to  time,  continuity  and  harmony. 
His  own  conduct  of  the  church  services  must  be  so 
punctual  in  beginning,  and  so  regular  in  closing, 
that  he  can  properly  demand  of  the  officers  of  the 
school    that  they  shall  so  open  and  close   as  not 


THE    PASTOR'S    PROBLEMS  55 

in  any  wa}^  to  infringe  on  the  time  for  the  church 
services,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  disturb 
these  services  by  the  noise  and  confusion  of 
scholars  leaving  the  school,  when  it  is  held  before 
the  church,  or  assembling,  when  it  is  held  after- 
ward. It  is  possible  to  utterly  defeat  the  pur- 
poses of  both  departments  of  church  work  by  lack 
of  co-operation,  in  following  clear-cut  schedules 
and  in  securing  orderly  dismissal  both  of  church 
and  of  school.  No  effort  is  wasted  that  secures 
harmony  here. 

Closely  related  to  the  above  is  the  general  prob- 
lem of  fitting  the  school  into  the  whole  life  and 
work  of  the  church,  to  make  it  definitely  the  great 
agency  of  the  church  for  the  spiritual  development 
of  the  young  and  for  the  religious  education  of 
all.  The  pastor  will  find  the  school  increasingly 
valuable  as  he  realises  and  uses  it  as  an  opportunity 
for  training  his  people,  especially  those  who  are 
young,  in  Christian  service. 

An  important  problem  is  that  of  holding  the 
balance  of  the  school,  keeping  it  to  its  true  work 
and  its  right  place  in  the  church,  watching  to  see 
that  over  zealous  and  often  ignorant,  or  hard- 
working persons  do  not  acquire  power  in  the  school. 
A  man  with  some  axe  to  grind,  or  with  some  pe- 
culiar notion  which  he  has  allowed  to  acquire  al- 
most the  sole  control  of  his  brain  stock,  even  the 
evangelist  or  the  missionary,  may  practically  wreck 


56    THE   MODERN"   SUNDAY   SCHOOL 

a  school  by  being  given  full  liberty  therein.  The 
pastor  must  not  allow  the  school  to  drift  along 
without  his  supervision,  or  he  may  wake  up  some 
day  to  find  that  it  has  been  a  school  educating  his 
people  altogether  away  from  the  church. 

This  suggests  the  responsibility  of  the  pastor 
for  the  doctrines  taught  in  the  school.  Practically 
this  is  not  so  serious  a  problem  as  it  seems  to  be; 
it  becomes  acute  only  in  cases  where  deluded  per- 
sons deliberately  seek  to  instil  harmful,  disrupting 
doctrines.  But  certainly,  as  the  spiritual  head  of 
the  school,  the  pastor  ought  to  know  what  is  being 
taught.  He  will  find  that  if  false  doctrine  is  any- 
where being  inculcated  it  will  be  the  result  of 
ignorance,  as  a  rule,  rather  than  of  deliberate 
attempt  to  mislead.  With  those  who  come  in  as 
wolves  in  sheep's  clothing  he  must  cause  severe 
measures  to  be  taken.  But  it  will  be  very  seldom 
that  he  will  need  to  move  as  in  the  prosecution  of 
a  teacher  for  heresy.  Nowhere  is  there  a  greater 
demand  made  upon  his  tact,  his  Christian  love 
and  his  powers  of  leadership  than  in  this  task  of 
quietly,  unostentatiously,  almost  imperceptibly, 
moulding  the  content  of  the  teaching  in  his  school. 
It  is  well  to  remember  that  it  is  much  easier,  as 
well  as  much  better,  to  train  your  teachers  in  the 
truth  than  to  have  to  undo  and  attempt  to  correct 
their  errors;  therefore  the  pastor  will  count  it 
time  and  energy  saved  if  he  may  conduct  his 


THE    PASTOE'S    PEIVILEGE  57 

teachers  through  their  courses  of  study  in  Chris- 
tian Doctrines. 

There  is  one  other  point  at  which  he  may 
properly  and  wisely  engage  in  the  work  of  teach- 
ing, that  is  with  the  class  or  classes  of  those  who 
are  at  the  age  of  crisis  and  decision.  This  age  is 
specially  treated  in  the  chapter  on  Curriculum. 
The  pastors  who  have  made  a  study  of  this  age 
have  had  a  new  world  opened  to  them ;  they  have 
come  into  the  school,  with  a  clearer  conception  of 
its  whole  work,  to  definitely  engage  in  determining 
the  lives  of  these  adolescents.  If  there  is  anywhere 
that  the  pastor  should  be  found  teaching  it  is, 
not  in  the  old  people's  Bible  class,  but  in  the  class 
of  boys  and  girls  of  fourteen  to  seventeen. 

The  pastor  of  the  church  must  be  truly  pastor 
to  every  pupil  in  the  school.  Whatever  the  official 
relation  of  the  child  may  be  to  the  church,  whether 
regarded  as  a  member  from  infancy  or  not,  he 
must  have  over  that  child  the  closest,  tenderest, 
unflagging  pastoral  care.  It  is  not  those  who  have 
learned  to  walk  in  the  way  by  their  own  wills,  but 
those  who  are  yet  weak,  the  little  ones,  for  whom 
the  church  should  have  the  largest,  deepest  care. 
Unless  the  child  be  central  to  all  her  interests  she 
will  never  win  or  hold  the  man.  There  is  a  very 
practical  side  to  this;  the  child  in  the  Sunday 
school  has  the  same  right  in  need,  sickness,  dis- 
tress,  anxiety,   or  trouble  of   any   kind,   to    the 


58    THE   MODERN"   SUNDAY   SCHOOL 

services  of  the  pastor  as  belongs  to  any  member  in 
the  church.  How  happy  that  relation  where  the 
pupils  of  the  school  regard  the  pastor  as  friend, 
confidant,  trusted,  well-loved,  shepherd  of  their 
lives. 

///.  The  Pastor's  Preparation  for  Service  in  the 
School.  One  of  the  most  promising  signs  of  the 
times  is  the  fact  that  the  pastor  is  now  being  pre- 
pared in  the  theological  seminary  for  his  place  as 
pastor  of  the  Sunday  school.  A  number  of  sem- 
inaries now  have  chairs  of  "  Religious  Pedagogy  " ; 
some  are  entitled  departments  of  Sunday-school 
Methods;  others  have  regular  courses  of  lectures 
given  by  specialists  on  the  work  of  the  school,  the 
principles  of  teaching,  etc.  At  these  schools  and 
at  others  institutes  and  conferences  are  also  con- 
ducted on  the  general  subject  of  religious  educa- 
tion, or  on  the  special  work  of  the  school.  Some 
schools  of  theology  endeavour  to  lead  the  students 
in  practical  work  in  the  Sunday  schools  of  the 
city.  That  all  these  things  are  but  beginnings  we 
can  well  believe.  It  will  not  be  long  ere  it  is  rec- 
ognised that  no  man  is  fitted  for  the  work  of  the 
pastorate  who  has  not  given  to  the  work  of  the 
Sunday  school  an  amount  of  time,  study  and  prac- 
tice proportionate  to  the  place  which  it  must  hold 
in  the  general  activities  of  the  church. 

The  pastor  may  also  widen  his  usefulness  and 
continue  his  preparation — since    all    preparation 


THE    PASTOR'S    PREPARATION       59 

must  be  practically  perpetual  as  one's  work  devel- 
ops— by  keeping  in  touch  with  the  organised  Sun- 
day-school work,  by  attending  conventions  and 
conferences.  He  is  very  unwise  if  he  affects  to 
despise  gatherings  of  Sunday-school  workers  as 
being  "  perhaps  useful  but  altogether  amateurish." 
A  pastor  may  often  learn  more  by  attendance  on  a 
conference  or  institute,  where  earnest,  practical 
people  are  engaged  in  study  and  discussion,  than 
he  could  acquire  in  many  days  of  stretching  his 
feet  under  a  desk.  He  will  be  surprised  to  dis- 
cover the  amount  of  work  being  done  by  the  Sun- 
day-school people. 

There  is  being  steadily  built  up  a  wonderful 
treasury  of  literature  on  religious  education  in 
general  and  on  the  problems  and  practice  of  the 
Sunday  school  in  particular.  The  pastor  cannot 
afford  to  neglect  the  modern  works  on  religious 
psychology;  there  are  half  a  dozen  of  these  that 
ought  to  be  in  every  minister's  library.  He  cannot 
afford  to  go  without  the  works  discussing  the 
moral  and  religious  education  of  children;  he 
needs  the  books  which  deal  with  the  Sunday  school 
as  an  educational  institution.  True,  there  are  al- 
ways more  "  indispensable "  books  than  a  man 
could  buy,  even  should  he  devote  all  his  salary  to 
literature.  But  he  must  select  the  best.  The 
school  would  find  it  a  good  investment  to  present 
him  with  the  best.    Better  still,  purchase  them  for 


60  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

the  school  library,  asking  the  pastor  to  read  them 
first.  Then  there  is  the  current  literature  on  the 
subject  in  good  periodicals  dealing  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  school.  If  he  would  serve  worthily, 
let  him  here,  as  in  other  departments,  give  at- 
tention to  reading. 

The  best  preparation  of  all  is  that  gained  in  the 
work  itself;  the  pastor,  like  the  pupil,  must  learn 
by  doing.  He  who  comes  to  the  school  willing  to 
learn  will  soon  be  worthy  to  lead.  Whatever  in- 
vestment of  himself  he  makes  here  will  return  to 
him  many  fold.  He  who  sows  in  the  Sunday 
school  reaps  bountifully  all  through  the  church. 


yii 

OEGANISING  THE  SCHOOL  AS  AN  EDU- 
CATIONAL INSTITUTION 

/.  The  Educational  Aim. 
Education  is  the  leading  of  a  life,  through  the 
development  of  its  own  powers  and  by  the  dis- 
covery of  self,  of  fellow-beings  and  the  universe, 
into  the  highest  possible  personal  character  and 
into  perfect  adjustment  to  and  service  in  the 
world.  The  immediate  aim  of  the  Sunday  school 
is  the  Christ-like  service  and  character,  the  devel- 
opment of  the  growing  life  religiously,  spiritually, 
into  true  character  and  worthy  service. 

The  educational  aim  does  not  invalidate  the 
evangelistic  aim;  it  completes  it.  Sunday  schools 
may  be  roughly  classed  into  three  groups:  First, 
those  having  the  statistical  aim,  seeking  only  to 
gather  great  numbers  and  to  be  able  to  report 
growth  in  large  figures;  second,  the  so-called 
evangelistic,  seeking  only  to  bring  every  pupil  on 
some  "  Decision  Day  '^  to  commit  himself  to 
church  membership;  third,  those  with  the  Educa- 
tional spirit,  seeking  the  full  development  of  the 
pupil's  religious  life,  which  will  certainly  include 
the  following  of  his  Master  and  service  in    the 

61 


62    THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

church.  The  school  is  the  agency  for  educational 
evangelism,  which  is  quite  different  from  educa- 
tion instead  of  evangelism. 

The  educational  aim  swings  the  Sunday  school 
into  that  great  advance  movement,  the  impact  of 
which  every  other  agency  of  education  is  feeling, 
that  for  which  Pestalozzi,  Froebel,  Spencer,  and 
Horace  Mann  have  stood.  The  Sunday  school, 
while  seeking  to  do  the  most  difficult  of  all  work 
in  education,  as  well  as  the  greatest,  has  been  too 
long  endeavouring  to  do  this  work  in  absolute  in- 
dependence of  the  splendid  contributions  which 
reverent  specialists  and  workers  and  investigators 
of  long  experience  have  been  making  to  the  science 
of  education.  But  the  Sunday-school  worker  to- 
day realises  how  much  he  has  to  receive  from 
educational  leaders,  and  how  much  help  and  ad- 
vantage may  come  to  the  school  from  them. 

The  educational  aim  bridges  the  chasm  which 
has  existed  in  the  child's  experience  between  educa- 
tion in  the  day  school  and  in  the  Sunday  school. 
He  learns  that  one  is  just  as  serious,  as  valuable, 
as  serviceable  as  the  other,  that  the  day  school  is 
not  the  only  one  that  means  business.  How  much 
more  the  one  may  be  worth  to  him  than  the  other 
he  may  realise  later. 

II.  The  Educational  Aim  Necessitates  the  Edu- 
cational Method. 

One  great  principle  will  lead  in  the  educational 


THE  ARGUMENT  FOR  GRADATION  63 

Sunday  school,  that  is,  its  adaptation  to  the  life  of 
the  pupil,  its  obedience,  seen  in  its  methods,  to 
the  laws  of  the  life  of  a  child.  We  cannot  teach 
until  we  have  set  the  child  in  the  midst  and  learned 
of  him.  We  cannot  lead  a  child  out  into  life  until 
we  are  ourselves  willing  to  follow  the  laws  of  a 
child's  life.  You  must  follow  the  laws  of  steam 
if  you  would  use  a  locomotive;  and  you  must  fol- 
low the  laws  of  child  nature  if  you  would  educate 
a  child.  If  you  want  a  later  word  for  this  prin- 
ciple you  may  call  it  the  genetic  method. 

This  will  involve  the  constant  adaptation  of  the 
methods  of  the  school  and  of  the  material  taught 
in  the  school  to  the  developing  life  of  the  pupils. 
In  other  words  the  distinguishing  mark  of  this 
type  of  school  will  be  that  it  is  what  we  call  a 
graded  school. 

A.  Why  Grade  the  School? 

(1)  Because  the  pupils  are  not  all  of  one  age, 
nor  of  one  degree  of  attainment.  Gradation  is 
recognition  of  and  adaptation  to  facts  already  ex- 
isting; the  children  are  already  graded  by  nature, 
by  custom,  and  by  school  grades. 

(2)  The  pupils  are  steadily  developing  in  knowl- 
edge and  in  character.  To  teach  all  grades  the 
same  things  and  to  teach  them  always  the  same 
things  is  to  do  them  a  grave  wrong.  Grading  must 
secure  orderly  progression  in  study. 

(3)  In  order  that  pupils  and  teachers  adapted 


64    THE    MODEET^    SUNDAY    SCHOOL 

to  one  another  may  secure  the  highest  efficiency  in 
each  grade  or  division. 

(4)  Grading  makes  the  school  a  definite,  busi- 
ness-like institution,  approximating  itself  to  the 
value  of  the  public  school.  It  correlates  all  the 
child's  educational  activities. 

(5)  It  makes  possible  definitely  arranged  courses 
of  study  in  a  cumulative,  progressive  order,  cor- 
responding to  the  life  of  the  student. 

B.  What  Grading  Is. 

(1)  The  classification  of  pupils  according  to 
their  ages  and  capacities. 

(2)  The  assignment  of  pupils  to  classes  accord- 
ing to  this  classification. 

(3)  The  arrangement  of  these  classes  in  larger 
groups  or  divisions. 

(4)  The  provision  of  teachers  especially  quali- 
fied for  the  work  of  each  grade. 

(5)  The  provision  of  material  for  study  selected 
according  to  the  needs  of  each  grade. 

(6)  The  promotion  of  pupils  from  grade  to 
grade  on  the  fulfilling  of  certain  prescribed  re- 
quirements. 

C.  How  GRADE  THE   SuNDAY  SCHOOL. 

This  is  a  problem  not  nearly  so  difficult  as  is 
usually  supposed.  Many  fear  to  begin,  their 
imagination  conjuring  up  untold  hindrances.  Let 
the  simple  principle  that  gradation  of  the  school 
is  its  adaptation  to  the  fact  of  the  student's  gra- 


METHOD    OF    GEADATION  65 

dations  in  life  be  once  grasped  and  the  rest  is 
easy.  Failures  have  come  only  when  the  attempt 
has  been  made  to  force  on  the  school  some  me- 
chanical contrivance  in  a  mechanical  manner.  Let 
the  principle  and  the  plan  be  fully  understood  by 
all  workers ;  talk  it  over  with  them  until  all  are  in 
line.  Then  group  your  school  carefully  into  its 
larger  divisions;  in  the  greater  number  of  schools 
this  has  already  been  done.  Then,  working  in 
each  of  those  larger  divisions,  group  up  the  stu- 
dents therein  on  some  previously  accepted  plan  of 
classification. 

(1)  Determine  the  Basis  of  Classification. 
Shall  it  be  the  pupil's  or  the  teacher's  whim  (as 
in  many  schools),  the  pupil's  age,  his  school  grade, 
or  his  attainments  in  biblical  knowledge?  The 
principle  of  education  being  a  principle  of  life,  the 
basis  of  classification  must  be  in  the  life  of  the 
pupil.  For  the  great  divisions  of  the  school 
we  find  already  marked  out  for  us  three  great 
divisions  of  life: 

(a)  Childhood,  the  period  of  subjection  and  re- 
ceptivity. 

(&)  Youth,  the  period  of  awakening  powers, 
struggle,  and  determination. 

(c)  Manhood,  the  period  of  developed  powers, 
experience,  and  usefulness. 

A  study  of  child-nature  reveals  certain  lines  of 
cleavage  in  the  first  two  of  these  broader  divisions. 


66  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

Certain  changes  in  the  functions  and  mental  pow- 
ers seem  to  come  at  about  the  eighth  year  or  the 
ninth,  when  children  are  in  the  second  or  third 
grade  of  the  public  school.  A  study  of  these 
changes  would  be  possible  only  in  a  work  on  child- 
study.  We  can  stop  only  to  divide  the  first  general 
period  into  two,  which,  for  convenience,  we  may 
call  the  Beginner's  and  the  Elementary.  Then 
the  second  general  period  breaks  itself  up  into  the 
well-recognised  periods  of  earlier  and  later  ado- 
lescence, the  line  coming  somewhere  about  eighteen 
years  of  age.  This  creates  the  divisions  of  the 
Secondary  and  the  Senior. 

We  have  to  remember  in  discussing  these  divi- 
sions that  the  years  vary  greatly;  children  enter 
these  periods  at  different  ages  according  to  the 
rapidity  or  tardiness  of  their  physical  and  general 
development.  This  fact  makes  the  age  standard 
of  class  arrangement  an  unsatisfactory  one,  for 
it  throws  together  children  of  unequal  develop- 
ment. It  also  breaks  up  the  class  groups  to  which 
they  are  accustomed  in  their  daily  education.  It 
is  a  difficult  matter  to  determine  just  the  precise 
stage  of  a  child's  psychological  development.  But 
we  shall  find  that  the  processes  of  the  public  school 
come  very  close  to  classifying  children  exactly, 
grading  them  as  they  do  on  general  capacity  and 
ability.    A  fairly  good  working  basis  for  Sunday- 


CLASSIFICATION  67 

school  classification  is  found  in  the  grade  of  the 
child  in  the  public  school.  It  has  the  advantage 
of  strengthening  the  sense  of  harmony,  orderliness, 
and  unity — all  important  to  the  child — when  he 
finds  the  same  classification  and  general  arrange- 
ment in  the  Sunday  school  as  in  the  other  school. 
Of  course  some  modifications  of  gradation  are  nec- 
essary, owing  to  the  latter  school  covering  a  longer 
period  of  life.  But  following  this  plan  we  have  an 
arrangement  somewhat  as  is  indicated  on  the  next 
page. 

(2)  Determine  the  Basis  of  Promotion.  Since 
the  Sunday  schools  have,  as  yet,  no  commonly 
recognised  standards  of  biblical  knowledge,  graded 
schools  will  receive  from  the  ungraded,  and 
from  those  graded,  also,  students  of  varying  at- 
tainments ;  and,  since  there  will  always  be  objection 
to  purely  intellectual  tests,  the  advantage  of  grad- 
ing and  promoting  on  public-school  grades  is  evi- 
dent. It  is  w^ell  to  hold  examinations  in  the 
subjects  which  have  been  taught ;  it  is  well  also,  to 
give  the  scholar  credit  for  regular  attendance,  for 
deportment,  and  for  other  items,  and  to  make 
these  credits  count  on  his  school  standing.  But 
do  not  attempt  to  promote  on  the  basis  of  these 
markings,  or  you  may  shortly  have  confusion  be- 
yond remedy.  On  some  certain  Sunday  of  each 
year  promote,  with  appropriate  exercises,  every 
pupil  according  to  his  public-school  grade.  At  the 


w 

pi 
< 


O 

m 

Ph 


o 

M 

H 

M 

Q 
;«; 
o 
O 

>^ 
o 
o 
W 
o 


C/2 
C/3 


o 

H 

pei 
PUi 


O 

-M 

he 


,5      3  ST! 
■73  to  (/i  n:  it; 

0)   aC--;    e    H 


o  o 
c/2  e 


o 


OJ 


&C    to 


s  y  > 
c/2    . 


cS 


cC   be 

to    CO    P, 

(U    ijj    o 


s       > 


to  ^  .S    «  « 

c3  ♦-  'T-  T5    _    to 

— <  ^    -r-      O      CO 

'^   n    ==  .^  -^  -5 


CO      ^ 

O  to         be        > 


fTj  rrj    to  4J 

«^  fl  s^  > 

P   g   to  « 

^'^H    (U  to 

to   ,     d  ^ 

lU   be  C  3 

n3   C   O  o 

^;>^  be^ 

C  to 

^         O    3  O 


to 
o 

-M 

ft 


o 


o 

CO 


o 
o 

o 


3 
Pk 


o 
v 

•4-> 

ho 

a 


CD 

o 

CO 
CO 

o 


1^ 


o  2 

o 

be  X! 

.— !     3 

ft 


ffi 


OS 

a 

8 

v 


o 
o 


■V 


3 
o 


o 


G* 


CO 

0) 

CO 

-t-; 

hn 

3 

oj 

-^3 

hn 

2 

c 

be  'za 

n 

n 

0 

0 

Ph 

^ 
0 

(/) 

^ 

0 

J5 

0 

be 

'O 

X 

o 
'S 

t/2 


a-r 


3 


>     > 


05 

in 

, 

x: 

0 

fl) 

+^ 

>-!-> 

.c 

-t-i 

U-j 

>' 

lU 

r/l 

u5 

c3 

0 

c 

a 

0 

c 

^ 

V-^ 

-1 

^ 

s 

Lh 

in 

o 
o 

M 

a 


C3  >.J3 


tn  l3 


e  5 
I  8^ 


o  fl  n 

0)  «,„ 
^;S  o 

o  ea  g 

(P    73    fl 

^  CO  '-' 

C    CS    (U 

So'' 

*^     .  4) 

«=>   fl 

Sq° 

o        >. 

i:  Mfl 


(U 


o 


fl  >.  rt 

fli£-- 
rt  o  ^ 

S  «^  o 

tN  en  o 

fl  ^-d 
—  OJ  o 
tn  S  "J 
^  c^  m 

c3 


PROMOTION  69 

same  time  you  may  award  certificates,  or  "  diplo- 
mas," to  those  who,  by  faithful  work  and  regular 
attendance,  have  earned  over  a  certain  percentage 
of  credits.  Let  these  "  diplomas  "  or  "  Honours," 
as  some  call  them,  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
promotion  of  the  pupil;  make  them,  however, 
things  highly  desirable  on  account  of  the  honour 
they  confer  in  their  awarding. 

Promoting  the  pupils  as  they  make  progress 
through  the  public  school,  and  on  their  graduation 
therefrom,  regularly  every  year  advancing  them  a 
class  or  grade,  keeps  the  groups  of  pupils  together 
through  all  their  Sunday-school  life. 

(3)  Furnish  the  Machinery  for  a  Graded  School. 
Two  new  officers  will  be  necessary.  First,  the 
Secretary  of  Enrollment  and  Classification,  who 
will  assign  new  pupils  to  their  grades  as  they  are 
enrolled  in  the  school.  No  well-ordered  school  will 
tolerate  for  an  instant  the  custom  of  allowing 
pupils  of  the  first  three  divisions  to  select  their 
own  classes  and  teachers.  Second,  a  Secretary  of 
Class-Marking  and  Honours,  who  will  care  for  the 
records  of  each  pupil,  his  class  work,  examinations, 
and  other  markings.  In  his  care  also  will  be  the 
arrangements  for  the  promotions  of  all  pupils. 
Of  course  there  will  also  be  included  in  the  ma- 
chinery for  gradation  the  separate  class  rooms  and 
equipment  discussed  in  Chapter  IX,  though  these 
are  not  absolutely  indispensable. 


70  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

(4)  The  Educational  Aim  will  also  involve 
the  selection  of  material  of  study  adapted  to  the 
different  stages  of  development  in  the  life  of  the 
pupil.  We  have  been  too  slow  to  recognise  the 
principle  of  milk  for  babes  and  meat  for  men,  in 
the  Sunday  school.  We  do  not  teach  jurisprudence 
to  babes  elsewhere,  nor  compel  adults  to  continue 
in  simple  addition.  It  will  not  do  to  say  you  can 
teach  the  same  lesson  to  all  and  adapt  it  to  each 
stage  of  development.  That  is  a  make-shift  and 
involves  unnecessary  labour  when  there  is  at  hand 
ample  material  well  suited  to  each  stage.  Why 
twist  a  mature  saint's  lesson  to  a  babe  when  the 
babe's  lesson  is  equally  accessible?  The  uniform 
lesson  scheme  did  great  things  for  the  Sunday 
school  by  the  economy  it  made  possible  in  publi- 
cation of  lessons  material ;  it  put  into  every  teach- 
er's hand  the  "  help  " — which  has  since  so  often 
become  a  hindrance,  a  crutch  causing  lameness. 
But  the  International  Sunday  School  Association 
now  recognises  the  principle  of  the  graded  school 
and  its  necessarily  graded  course  of  study,  in  the 
offering  of  the  three  courses  of  lessons  now  known 
as  the  Beginners,  the  "  Uniform,"  and  the  Senior, 
or  Advanced. 

Where  each  division  of  a  school  is  small  in  itself, 
and  where  the  facilities  for  better  work  are  lack- 
ing, many  will  find  in  these  three  courses  what  they 
need.     At  any  rate  they  mark  an  advance.     But 


MATERIAL    ADAPTED  71 

the  danger  is  lest  departing  from  uniformity  they 
still  lack  unity.  Differing  lessons  for  the  grades 
is  only  a  part  of  what  is  needed;  the  lessons  must 
be  adapted  to  each  grade  with  a  sense  of  orderly 
progression  from  one  to  another.  It  may  some  day 
he  possible  to  have  approximately  uniform  lessons 
for  each  grade,  but  the  advantages  of  such  a  plan 
are  in  question.  In  the  meantime,  schools  seeking 
the  educational  goal  must  work  out  their  own 
graded  lesson  material,  selecting  from  the  great 
array  of  text-books  offered  those  suited  to  each 
grade.  After  the  Superintendent,  the  Pastor,  and 
the  Division  Principals  have  determined  on  the 
grading  of  the  school  and  the  classification  of 
pupils  has  begun,  let  a  competent  committee,  con- 
sisting of  persons  who  can  be  depended  on  both 
for  good  common  sense  and  for  educational  sym- 
pathy and  outlook,  work  out  the  whole  course  of 
study,  carefully  basing  it  on  the  developing  life 
and  needs  of  the  pupils.  They  will  find  in  ex- 
istence many  excellent  graded  courses;  they  must 
select  from  these  and  adapt  to  their  own  school, 
for  it  seldom  happens  that  any  one  can  be  laid  on 
one  school  in  precisely  the  form  in  which  it  is 
used  in  another.  We  must  not  be  afraid  of  work 
here,  nor  must  we  expect  to  secure  success  in  a 
single  Sunday. 

Teachers  will  need  to  be  trained  in  the  use  of 
a  graded   curriculum.     For  their   direction   and 


72  THE  MODEEN  SU:NrDAY  SCHOOL 

counsel  a  well-qualified  leader  should  be  provided, 
one  familiar  with  modern  pedagogy  and  psychol- 
ogy, fitted  by  religious  experience,  and  able  to 
secure  unity  through  his  direction  of  all  the  work 
of  the  teachers. 

(5)  The  educational  aim  will  enable  the  school 
to  meet  all  the  needs  of  the  pupils  as  to  religious 
knowledge.  There  will  no  longer  be  a  place  for 
so-called  "  supplemental  work  "  in  a  graded  school. 
There  are  no  things  that  are  supplemental;  if 
they  are  essential  they  must  be  integral.  All  such 
matters  as  the  history,  chronology,  geography,  even 
hymns,  church  history,  and  doctrine,  will  have 
their  proper,  natural  places  in  a  comprehensive 
course  of  study.  The  educational  aim  will  not 
allow  any  part  of  religious  knowledge  and  nurture 
to  be  neglected. 

(6)  The  educational  aim  will  mean  that  the 
school  foill  in  every  possible  way  help  its  teachers 
to  secure  the  best  that  modern  psychology  and 
pedagogy  and  biblical  research  has  to  offer.  It 
will  purchase  and  place  at  their  disposal  the  best 
books;  it  will  have  a  special  library  for  its  teach- 
ers. It  will  direct  their  reading;  it  will  promote 
classes  for  their  study.  It  will  regularly  examine 
them  in  their  proficiency  and  their  studies  during 
the  first  years  of  their  teaching. 

The  Sunday  school  organised  as  an  educational 


EESULTS    OF    EDUCATIONAL    AIM  73 

institution  will  mean  the  adoption  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  education  as  superior  to  mere  instruction, 
of  unity  and  development  of  study  as  superior  to 
uniformity.  It  will  mean  the  school  pressing 
toward  the  mark  instead  of  standing  by  some 
obsolete  and  long-since  outgrown  standard. 


VIII 

EECEUITING  AND  EETAINING  PUPILS 

There  can  be  no  school  without  scholars.  All 
that  has  gone  before  has  been  with  them  in  mind ; 
organisation  is  futile  except  for  the  sake  of  those 
who  are  to  be  served  by  teaching.  But  organisation 
must  have  a  place  in  attention  ahead  of  the  ques- 
tion of  securing  scholars;  for  it  will  be  impossible 
to  secure  and  hold  pupils  in  a  school  which  neglects 
its  own  efficiency;  while  the  school  which  is  well 
organised  will,  bT;  its  very  power  of  usefulness,  at- 
tract and  hold. 

The  Ideal.  The  ideal  of  enrolment  is  that 
every  person  in  the  parish,  including  the  adults, 
shall  be  enrolled  in  some  Sunday  school,  working 
or  studying,  either  in  the  school  proper,  or  in  the 
Home  Department,  or  under  some  similar  plan  of 
Sunday-school  extension.  The  goal  as  to  attend- 
ance is  that  every  person  enrolled  shall  be  either 
present  at  the  school  or  accounted  for  by  excuse 
for  sickness,  absence  from  the  city,  or  studying 
elsewhere;  that  this  shall  be  the  condition  every 
Sunday;  and  that  there  shall  never  come  a  time 
in  the  life  of  any  one  in  which  the  Sunday  school 

74 


THE    FIELD    OF    THE    SCHOOL      75 

shall  not  have  a  place  in  which  he  may  cither  serve 
or  be  served. 

The  ideal  is  far  from  what  most  are  expecting 
for  the  real ;  set  your  ideals  high ;  the  higher  you 
aim  the  higher  you  will  hit.  But  don't  forget  that 
ideals  never  realise  themselves  without  much  hard 
labour.  The  following  are  some  suggestions  on 
plans  for  realising  this  ideal  in  the  matter  of 

I.  Recruiting  Pupils. 

1.  Know  Your  Field.  Let  the  church  or  the 
school  deliberately  decide  just  what  area  it  ought 
to  consider  as  its  field,  from  which  it  will  draw 
pupils.  Let  every  teacher  and  officer  know  exactly 
what  this  area  is ;  talk  of  it  as  the  field,  or  precinct 
of  the  school.  Have  a  map  of  your  field  in  the 
room  where  the  teachers'  meetings  are  held. 

Next,  Know  the  People  in  Your  Field.  The 
school  should  have  at  least  a  directory  of  its  own 
people,  the  attendants  at  its  own  church,  in  that 
field,  together  with  the  names  of  all  who  do  not 
count  themselves  as  belonging  to  any  church.  Such 
a  directory  may  well  be  secured  by  the  different 
schools  of  the  district  uniting  to  thoroughly  can- 
vass that  district,  going  to  every  house  and  securing 
the  names  of  all  therein,  together  with  facts  as  to 
the  ages,  sex,  and  Sunday  school  affiliations  of  the 
children.  By  setting  aside  one  day  for  this,  set- 
ting a  large  number  at  work,  and  carefully  map- 
ping out  the  area  into  small  districts,  this  may  be 


76    THE   MODERN"   SUN"DAY   SCHOOL 

done  with  ease.  It  should,  however,  be  done  also 
with  accuracy,  or  it  is  without  value.  The  public 
schools  take  an  annual  census  of  the  children  of 
school  age ;  why  should  not  the  Sunday  schools  do 
likewise  ? 

3.  Cultivate  Your  Field.  The  tendency  is  to 
be  satisfied  with  gathering  the  facts  secured  by  a 
canvass;  pigeonhole  the  list  of  names  and  let  it 
rest  there. 

(a)  After  the  canvass  divide  your  field  up  into 
smaller  units,  each  consisting  of  several  blocks, 
if  in  a  village  or  city,  or  into  some  other  convenient 
grouping  of  homes.  Place  each  unit  under  the 
care  of  some  person  who  will  watch  for  families 
moving  into  his  district,  will  have  them  invited  to 
the  school,  and  will  also  co-operate  with  teachers 
and  others  in  care  for  the  sick  and  needy  in  that 
district. 

(b)  Invite  to  tJie  school  personally  all  not  en- 
rolled. Do  not  leave  this  to  the  one  in  charge  of 
the  district;  officers  must  make  it  their  duty  to 
invite  pupils  at  all  times. 

(c)  Invite  hy  mail.  As  much  as  possible  by 
personal  letter;  as  often  as  possible  by  printed 
matter.  Be  sure  your  printed  matter  is  worth 
scattering,  and  then  sow  it  carefully.  Do  not  call 
you;r  school  an  educational  institution,  while  you 
are  littering  the  streets  with  handbills,  or  in  any 
way   circulating   cheap,   smudgy,   trashy   printed 


METHODS    OF    INVITATION"  77 

matter.  Study  the  methods  of  the  brightest,  most 
worthy  advertising,  and  keep  in  mind  the  char- 
acter of  your  school  when  preparing  matter  for 
printing;  see  that  taste  and  brains  are  mixed 
with  the  printer's  ink. 

(d)  Invite  through  the  scholars.  They  make 
the  most  effective  agents.  You  have  a  tremendous 
leverage  over  a  home  as  soon  as  you  have  one 
member  in  the  school;  one  within  will  draw  the 
rest,  when  a  hundred,  from  without  would  have 
failed.  Go  into  the  home  with  the  scholar;  that 
way  you  find  entrance  to  hearts. 

(e)  Many  schools  find  it  necessary  to  employ 
one  or  several  visitors,  who  give  all  their  time  to 
this  work.  They  should  be  persons  of  unusual 
tact,  filled  with  high  ideals  for  the  school.  Their 
work  ought  never  wholly  to  supplant  that  of  the 
volunteer,  the  teacher,  or  the  officer.  These  latter 
need  often  to  get  into  touch  with  the  lives  of  the 
scholars,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  securing  their 
attendance,  but  to  maintain  their  own  necessary 
sympathy  with  those  who  are  being  taught. 

4.  Follow  Up.  Keep  on  reaching  everyone. 
If  one  invitation  fails,  try  another.  No  wise 
solicitor  in  business  gives  up  at  the  first  effort. 
Said  one  merchant,  when  asked  how  long  he  in- 
tended to  continue  sending  "  follow-up "  letters 
to  a  prospective  customer,  "  Until  I  get  him.'^  If 
at  first  you  don't  succeed,  do  it  again. 


78  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

5.  Cultivate  the  School  Spirit.  Colleges 
and  universities  know  what  this  is,  how  great  is  the 
value  of  the  attitude  of  mind  which  makes  a 
student  proud  of  his  school,  anxious  to  advertise 
it,  to  increase  its  glory  and  honour.  Why  should 
not  the  Sunday  school  stand  for  such  things,  and 
mean  so  much  to  the  lives  of  its  people,  that  they 
will  be  proud  to  wear  its  class  pins,  to  bear  its 
name,  to  invite  others  to  its  classes,  and  in  every 
way  to  further  its  interests.  The  promotion  of 
this  spirit  rests  largely  with  the  superintendent 
and  the  teachers ;  it  will  come,  not  by  talking  about 
it,  but  by  giving  it  worthy  material  to  feed  on,  a 
character  of  which  to  boast  and  opportunity  to 
honour  and  advertise  the  school.  There  have  been 
harmful  exhibitions  of  school  spirit,  fostered  under 
such  pernicious  practices  as  the  "  colour  contests," 
when  the  school  is  divided  into  "  reds "  and 
"  blues,"  rival  camps  endeavouring  each  to  secure 
the  larger  number  of  new  students.  The  result 
is  the  fostering  of  rivalry,  the  service  for  an  un- 
worthy motive — usually  a  banquet  to  be  given  by 
the  losing  side — and  the  enrolment  of  scholars  in 
a  wholesale  fashion.  It  is  possible  to  appeal  to 
higher,  and  certainly  to  less  harmful,  motives  in 
the  scholars.  By  such  devices  the  school  becomes 
an  agency  educating  in  things  that  do  not  make 
for  the  best  character.  The  best  school-spirit  is 
that  which  grows  out  of  a  sense  of  the  value  of 


EETATNINCr    PUPILS  79 

the  school  to  the  pupil.  It  grows  by  intensive 
work,  and  mere  extension  in  numbers  will  not 
secure  it. 

6.  Let  the  School  Advertise  Itself  by  Effi- 
ciency. This  is  the  best  advertisement.  The  really 
worth-while  school  will  soon  be  known  beyond  its 
own  parish.  It  will  not  have  to  do  much  urging; 
people  will  hear  of  it  and  come  to  it.  People  know 
the  difference  between  a  good  school  and  a  poor 
one  as  surely  as  bees  know  the  difference  between 
glucose  and  honey.  Many  a  school  that  is  blam- 
ing the  people  for  their  lack  of  spirituality  needs 
to  lay  the  blame  for  its  empty  benches  on  its  own 
sloth  and  lack  of  ability.  Let  the  school  set  effi- 
ciency first  of  all;  let  it  teach  things  worth  teach- 
ing in  a  worthy  way,  and  it  will  have  people  to 
teach. 

II.  Retaining  Pupils. 

1.  Set  a  Standard  of  Eegularity.  Expect  the 
pupil  to  remain  with  the  school,  and  to  be  regular 
in  attendance;  you  will  get  what  you  expect  al- 
ways. Cultivate  in  all  pride  in  the  regularity  of 
all.  Count  any  absence  as  abnormal.  Eegularity 
is  almost  entirely  a  matter  of  habit. 

2.  Give  Credit  for  Attendance.  Unless  you 
so  arrange  it  that  it  makes  a  difference  to  the 
scholar  whether  he  is  there  or  not,  he  will  soon 
cease  to  care.  Attendance  must  count  to  his 
credit ;  it  should  count  so  many  points,  or  so  much 


80    THE    MODERN"    SUNDAY    SCHOOL 

per  cent,  toward  his  general  standing,  and  on  this 
standing  his  diploma  should  depend.  Let  the 
teacher,  or  whoever  may  keep  the  record,  exercise 
the  utmost  care  in  securing  its  accuracy.  There 
are  no  keener  judges  of  fairness  than  children. 
Let  the  superintendent  and  every  officer  emphasise 
the  importance  of  the  record  of  attendance,  not 
alone  of  the  report  on  the  whole  number  present, 
but  more  particularly  on  the  record  of  each  in- 
dividual. 

3.  Enlist  the  Home.  Counsel  with  parents. 
Find  out  the  cause  of  absence.  Keep  the  home 
informed  on  the  attendance  and  general  standing 
of  the  pupil.  Send  every  quarter  a  Eeport  Card, 
something  like  that  shown  on  page  81,  securing 
the  signature  of  the  parent,  and  the  return  of  the 
card  to  the  school. 

On  the  back  of  the  card  there  should  be  four 
lines  ruled,  and  designated  for  the  four  quarters, 
the  name  of  the  parent  to  be  signed  on  each  one. 
By  this  means  the  home  is  reminded  at  least  four 
times  a  year  of  what  the  child  is  doing  in  the 
Sunday  school. 

4.  Meet  the  Needs  op  All.  Make  the  school 
work  so  fit  every  age  and  condition  that  none  shall 
fail  to  receive  what  they  need,  nor  shall  any  ever 
come  to  the  time  when  they  can  say,  "  The  school 
has  nothing  more  for  me."  When  the  school  ha^ 
failed  to  hold  the  boy  of  fourteen  it  has  laid  the 


X 
H 

O 
H 

Pi 
O 

W 
H 


o 
o 

O 

a 

fl 

3 


1:R 

i 

H 
H 

1 

>!^ 

<U 

P4 
H 
H 

Pi 
< 

CO 

>!^ 

CO 

a 

Pi 
» 

H 
P< 

•< 

■^ 

a 

H 

r- 1 

■^ 

a 

« 

1 

0) 

B 

a 

4-1 
< 

o 
o 

■u 
OS 

3 

• 

be 

•S 

O 

■M 

a 

o 

* 
* 

O 

< 

■M 

a 

O 

bo 

hi 


u 
c« 
-Q 

(3 
O 

a 
bo 


bo 


82    THE    MODERN"    SUNDAY    SCHOOL 

blame  for  the  failure  on  the  natural  depravity  of 
the  boy ;  the  truth  is  that  the  boy  leaves  because  he 
finds  nothing  in  the  school  which  meets  his  need. 
In  many  schools  he  has  had  precisely  the  same 
lesson,  often  taught  in  precisely  the  same  manner, 
as  he  had  when  he  was  of  the  age  of  those  whom 
he  calls  "  the  little  kids."  The  graded  school  alone 
can  meet  the  need  of  every  age  and  period  of 
development  (see  Ch.  VII.),  but  it  is  well  to  re- 
member that  grading  the  school  pays  in  the  in- 
creased power  of  the  school  to  hold  the  scholars 
all  the  way  through  life. 

5.  Let  the  Leaders  be  Eegular.  An  irregu- 
lar, irresponsible  superintendent  cannot  cultivate 
regularity  in  the  school.  Even  greater  is  the  power 
of  the  teacher's  example. 

6.  Make  Provision  for  Necessary  Absences. 
Provide  excuse  cards,  and  accept  written  excuses 
for  sickness.  When  scholars  are  out  of  town  they 
may  attend  some  other  school  and  bring  certificate 
stating  where  they  have  attended,  and  so  secure 
credit  for  attendance  as  though  they  had  been  at 
their  own  school. 

7.  Follow  up  Absentees.  Three  persons 
should  have  a  record  of  names  of  all  absentees,  the 
teacher,  the  secretary,  and  the  superintendent. 
The  teacher  will  have  the  record  of  the  class  ab- 
sentees and  will  visit  them,  or  write  to  them,  cer- 
tainly sending  a  short  personal  note;  one  line  so 


THE    ATTRACTIVE    SCHOOL         83 

written  is  better  than  a  ream  of  printed  matter. 
The  secretary  will  send  the  school  reminder-card 
in  the  name  of  the  superintendent.  The  latter 
will  keep  the  record  handed  him,  so  as  to  watch 
the  movements  of  scholars,  and  be  ready  to  check 
any  tendency  to  drift  away.  Officers  should  es- 
pecially watch  against  the  tendency  to  let  this 
matter  go  by  default,  intending  to  gather  back  all 
those  who  are  astray  at  the  Rally  Day,  or  some 
similar  special  occasion.  The  only  way  to  keep 
them  is  to  keep  them  all  the  time.     Hold  them. 

8.  Hold  by  Attraction.  Do  not  scold  those 
present  for  the  faults  of  those  absent.  Examine 
your  school  and  ask  whether  you  would  come  your- 
self if  an  office  and  a  sense  of  its  obligation  did 
not  compel  you ;  ask  whether  there  is  in  the  school 
that  which  will  attract  and  retain  the  indifferent. 
Endeavour  to  have  such  a  school  that  people  will 
want  to  come  to  it.  The  school  that  attracts  by 
its  character  will  hold.  You  do  not  have  to  beg 
children  to  stay  close  to  the  crock  of  cookies.  Right 
organisation,  good  order,  efficient  teaching,  studies 
suited  to  students,  honest,  unaffected  human  af- 
fection for  them;  these  are  important  factors  in 
the  school  that  attracts. 

9.  Beware  of  Baits  and  Bribes.  When  the 
Sunday  school  was  a  charity  institution,  prizes  may 
have  had  a  legitimate  place;  they  have  none  to- 
day.    The  effect  of  offering  a  prize  or  prizes    is 


84    THE   MODEEN   SUNDAY   SCHOOL 

to  turn  the  pupil  from  the  higher  motive  of  learn- 
ing to  the  lower  one  of  getting  a  book  or  a  toy; 
to  make  him  think  that  regularity  of  attendance 
or  good  conduct  is  not  something  he  should  give 
naturally,  but  that  it  is  something  to  be  bought 
from  him  with  a  prize;  to  appeal  to  the  spirit  of 
rivalry,  with  the  result  that  he  not  only  wishes  to 
excel,  he  hopes  others  may  fail.  The  plan  is  sure 
to  cause  bitterness,  jealousies,  and  divisions.  Still 
more  deplorable  is  the  custom  of  bribing  attend- 
ance by  turning  the  school  into  a  vestibule  to  the 
circus,  to  excursions,  entertainments,  etc.  Some 
schools  are  so  surfeited  with  the  attractions,  side- 
shows, and  "  treats  "  which  unwise  officers  provide 
in  the  hope  of  attracting  great  numbers,  that  the 
school  comes  to  stand  in  the  mind  of  the  pupil 
for  these  things  alone.  Turn  your  school  into  an 
ice  cream  and  peanut  stand,  and  you  will  have 
nothing  but  dishes  and  shucks  when  the  edibles 
are  gone. 

The  awarding  of  diplomas  and  honours  must 
not  be  confused  with  the  giving  of  prizes,  nor  is  it 
meant  that  it  is  unwise  for  a  school  to  provide  en- 
tertainments and  other  meetings  and  times  of  social 
enjoyment  for  its  pupils;  all  these  things  must, 
however,  be  evidently  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the 
social  life  of  the  school,  and  the  desire  to  provide 
for  its  interest  and  intellectual  improvement,  and 
not  at  all  measures  taken  to  induce  attendance. 


HONOURS    AND    PRIZES  85 

But  diplomas  and  honours  are  simply  the  certifi- 
cates awarded  for  good  work,  presented  on  attain- 
ing certain  definite  standings;  they  have  no 
intrinsic  value ;  they  are  within  the  reach  of  every 
one.  Care  should  be  taken  so  to  award  them  that 
they  do  not  even  remind  one  of  prizes,  but  that 
they  act  as  incentives  to  all  to  do  good  work  and 
stand  for  the  facts  that  the  school  recognises  such 
work,  and  that  it  is  conducted  on  business 
principles. 

To  sum  up  all  that  has  been  said  as  to  recruit- 
ing and  retaining  pupils,  let  it  be  remembered  that 
the  strong  school  is  not  the  one  that  first  gathers 
a  great  number  of  people  in,  and  then  holds  them 
by  any  and  all  devices ;  the  strong  school  is  the  one 
that  first  makes  itself  thoroughly  efficient;  does 
its  work  well,  even  when  it  is  but  small;  it  then 
becomes  strong  of  itself.  Attend  to  your  school 
and  you  can  almost  say  that  your  scholars  will  take 
care  of  themselves. 


IX 

BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT 

/.    The  Building 

The  Ideal 

The  ideal  as  to  building  would  be  a  separate 
building  designed  and  erected  solely  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  school,  as  much  a  Sunday-school  build- 
ing as  that  of  the  public  school  is  a  day-school 
building.  This  is  something  at  present  attainable 
in  only  a  relatively  small  number  of  instances ;  but 
the  conditions  under  which  such  a  building  might 
be  of  the  largest  value  are  worth  understanding, 
since  they  are  important  to  any  school. 

Some  Principles 

1.  The  building  must  be  designed  hy  some  one 
who  thoroughly  understands  the  work  of  the 
school,  who  knows  the  things  which  go  to  make  a 
well  organised  school,  and  who  grasps  both  the 
practical  and  the  agsthetic  sides  of  architecture. 
Evidently  this  will  also  apply  to  the  remodelling 
or  adapting  of  parts  of  the  church  building  to 
Sunday-school  purposes. 

86 


IDEALS    AS    TO    BUILDING  87 

2.  It  must  be  designed  for  definite  purposes, 
with  clear  ideas  as  to  the  uses  of  its  various  parts ; 
it  must  be  arranged  for  actual  work;  in  other 
words,  it  must  be  practical. 

3.  Must  be  designed  with  reference  to  the  pri- 
mary  physical  conditions  of  good  educational  work ; 
light  soft  and  ample,  scientifically  ventilated,  free 
from  dampness,  having  all  floors  above  the  ground, 
with  sound-proof  walls,  and  good  acoustic  prop- 
erties to  large  room  or  rooms. 

4.  Build  for  to-morrow  as  well  as  for  to-day. 

5.  By  no  means  of  least  importance,  have  in 
mind  the  teaching,  educational  power  of  good 
architecture,  of  a  dignified,  well-proportioned 
building.  Solid  characters  are  not  trained  in  gin- 
ger-bread houses. 

II.   Borne  Plans 

A  Sunday-school  building  recently  erected  in 
one  of  our  large  cities  carries  out  many  of  the 
more  important  principles  of  an  edifice  for  reli- 
gious education.  It  provides,  on  the  first  floor, 
large  rooms  for  the  primary  and  the  next  grade, 
and  also  oSice  rooms  for  the  heads  of  the  school; 
on  the  second  floor,  one  large  room  with  class 
rooms,  each  about  12  by  14,  opening  therefrom; 
on  the  third  floor  there  are  classrooms  only,  cor- 
responding to  those  on  the  second,  the  ceiling  of 
the  large  room  on  the  second  being  carried  clear 


88  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

through  to  the  roof.  The  classrooms  on  the  sec- 
ond floor  are  separated  from  each  other  by  folding 
partitions,  with  glass  in  the  upper  part;  they  are 
separated  from  the  large  room  by  heavy  linen  cur- 
tains, which  are  folded  back  during  general  exer- 
cises. Those  on  the  third  floor  open  on  a  corridor 
running  along  the  outer  wall.  There  are  in  all 
twenty-three  small  classrooms,  each  fitted  for  from 
twenty  to  thirty  pupils,  three  large  classrooms, 
one  being  very  large,  for  "  Bible  Class  "  purposes, 
and  the  others  for  large  classes,  and  two  division 
rooms.  This  building  also  has  a  large  library  room 
and  a  commodious  gymnasium. 

The  principle  prevailing  in  the  building  de- 
scribed is  that  the  lower  grades  shall  meet  in 
large  rooms,  the  middle  grades  in  classrooms 
which  can  be  thrown  together  for  general  assembly, 
wdth  separate  classrooms  for  those  advanced  grades 
which  do  not  need  to  come  together. 

A  very  simple  plan,  susceptible  of  adaptation  to 
schools  of  almost  all  sizes  and  means,  is  that  of  a 
building  either  circular  or  approximately  octagonal 
in  form,  in  which  the  first  floor  is  divided  into  two 
large  rooms  for  the  first  two  divisions,  the  second 
floor  has  one  large  room,  with  fair  sized  class- 
rooms opening  therefrom  on  almost  all  sides,  while 
above  is  a  gallery  with  smaller  classrooms. 

Excellent  work  can  be  done  in  a  plain,  square 
two-story   building,   the   first   floor   of   which   is 


TYPICAL   BUILDINGS  89 

divitled  into  two  large  rooms,  the  second  into  as 
many  "  classrooms "  as  possible,  by  means  of 
heavy  curtains  drawn  on  gas  pipe  fixed  at  right 
angles  to  the  wall  and  leaving  a  corridor  down  the 
middle  of  the  room.  In  any  case  be  sure  that  your 
first  floor  has  good  light  and  is  above  ground. 
Also  provide  a  room  in  which  the  teachers'  class 
can  meet,  and  where  its  special  eauipment  can  be 
kept. 

The  familiar  Akron  plan  is  simply  the  design- 
ing of  a  room  so  that  the  outer  parts  are  thrown 
into  classrooms,  radiating  from  the  superintend- 
ent's desk,  and  all  opening  up  so  as  to  form  one 
large  room  at  will. 

The  principal  things  to  be  secured  in  any  build- 
ing are:  separateness  of  classes  for  class  work, 
unity  of  divisions  at  will  for  assembly,  the  fitness 
of  all  rooms  for  educational  purposes. 

III.    The  Practical  Problem 

The  actual  conditions  as  to  building  in  the 
greater  number  of  instances  are  that  the  school 
has  to  make  the  best  it  can  of  the  main  room 
or  auditorium  of  the  church,  and  such  other 
smaller  rooms  as  it  may  have  for  prayer  meetings, 
etc.  Many  churches  have  provided  for  their 
schools  by  fitting  up  the  basements,  so  that  chil- 
dren who  love  the  outdoor  sunshine  can  learn  to 
associate  religion  with  a  musty,  dim,  damp,  and 


90  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL   ^ 

often  cobwebby  environment.  It  is  taking  the 
church  a  long  time  to  get  over  the  "  ragged  school  " 
conception  of  its  educational  department.  The 
Sunday-school  workers  must  take  what  they  can 
get;  but  let  them  get  all  they  can  and  make  the 
most  and  best  of  it. 

Much  may  be  done  by  wise  consideration  of  the 
space  available,  and  a  careful  distribution  of 
classes.  See  that  all  space  is  used  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. Remember  that  all  the  space  is  wasted 
when  classes  are  crowded  close  together.  Where 
many  classes  must  meet  in  one  room,  solid  home- 
made screens,  the  kind  that  will  stay  where  they 
are  placed,  will  help  to  give  separateness.  In  some 
churches  screens  could  easily  be  made  that  would 
fit  on  the  backs  of  the  pews.  Of  course  neither 
the  curtains  already  mentioned  nor  the  screens 
must  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  church  wor- 
ship. 

Many  schools  now  struggling  along  in  the  single 
room  of  the  church  would  have  little  difficulty  in 
securing  money  to  erect  a  plain,  well-lighted  addi- 
tion in  which  the  two  lower  divisions  could  meet; 
the  others  could  then  be  cared  for  fairly  well  in 
the  church.  The  community  will  readily  give  to  a 
Sunday-school  building  when  it  is  seen  that  the 
church  is  with  earnestness,  enterprise,  and  ability 
meeting  its  educational  problem. 


EQUIPMENT  91 

IV.    The  Equipment 
The  Ideal 

The  ideal  as  to  equipment  would  be  such  a  con- 
dition of  the  treasury  as  would  permit  the  pur- 
chase of  everything  that  would  really  help  the 
educational  and  religious  ends  of  the  school.  The 
day  is  past  when  it  was  a  matter  of  pride  with  the 
teachers  to  be  able  to  say  that  they  needed  nothing 
but  the  grace  of  God  in  their  hearts  and  Bibles  in 
their  hands.  We  cannot  afford  to  despise  any  ac- 
cessory to  perfect  service.  We  recognise  that  chil- 
dren have  other  organs  besides  those  of  hearing; 
they  have  eyes  and  hands  and  mouths.  They 
learn  much  more  with  their  eyes  or  even  with  their 
hands  than  with  their  ears.  Therefore  the  Sunday 
school  must  seek  entrance  to  their  minds  through 
these  other  senses  or  avenues  of  perception. 

Beginning  with  the  essential  things,  chairs  will 
be  needed.  It  makes  no  small  difference  whether 
they  are  chosen  with  reference  to  the  size  of  the 
pupils  and  to  the  kind  of  work  they  are  to  do  in 
the  classroom.  Then  also,  the  chairs,  together 
with  all  other  articles  of  furniture,  should  be  such 
as  to  train  the  child  in  self-respect  and  in  rever- 
ence for  the  place  of  instruction.  The  uncomfort- 
able chair,  the  broken  table,  the  furniture  that  is 
used  in  the  Sunday  school  because  it  is  of  no  use 
elsewhere,  all  constitute  sins  against  the  child's 


92  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

character  for  which  some  persons  must  answer. 
Classes  will  be  equipped  according  to  their  grade 
and  work.  The  seating  of  the  secondary  or  inter- 
mediate division  in  small  groups  about  tables  has 
been  found  to  be  very  helpful.  Each  pupil  then 
has  his  own  place  for  books  or  paper,  with  facilities 
for  manual  work  as  writing,  drawing,  modelling, 
etc.  In  any  case  it  is  a  good  thing  to  furnish 
some  grades  with  regular  schoolroom  desks. 

Let  the  walls  of  the  room  be  a  lesson  in  simple 
beauty,  and  in  cleanliness  and  good  cheer;  avoid 
lugubrious  and  hypersanctimonious  texts  printed 
in  lurid  colours;  let  not  the  Word  become  an 
SBsthetic  nightmare. 

Pictures  have  a  place  on  the  walls,  and  also  in 
the  work  of  teaching.  Be  sure  they  are  worthy  of 
their  place.  Do  not  buy  them  because  they  are 
cheap;  one  good  carbon  print  of  a  masterpiece  is 
worth  a  whole  wall  plastered  with  chromes.  Re- 
member how  hard  it  has  been  for  you  to  overcome 
impressions  made  by  pictures  crude  or  historically 
false. 

There  should  be  an  abundance  of  good  maps  and 
charts.  Let  the  wall  maps  be  chosen  for  clearness, 
the  outlines  and  principal  names  so  printed  as  to 
be  easily  seen  by  all,  but  not  crowded  with  names 
for  which  no  one  cares  a  fig.  A  few  good  maps 
will  save  your  school  much  more  than  the  value  of 
many  poor  ones  given  away  as  premiums.     Classes 


MAPS    AND    BLACKBOARDS  93 

should  also  be  provided  with  individual  hand  maps 
whenever  these  would  help  the  work. 

Blackloards :  Once  you  have  trained  teachers 
to  use  them  they  will  never  want  to  teach  without 
them.  So  valuable  is  the  appeal  to  the  eye  that 
a  small  board  in  the  hands  is  far  better  than  none 
at  all.  But  it  is  best  to  have  them  fixed  in  the 
wall,  made  of  composition,  smooth,  easily  cleaned 
and,  in  particular,  often  cleaned.  Have  tablets 
or  lap-boards  for  the  pupils. 

Manual  work  materials:  Although  manual 
work  is  still  in  its  infancy  in  the  Sunday  school, 
many  wise  teachers  are  finding  ways  of  using  the 
child's  hands  and  his  natural  activities  in  his  edu- 
cation in  spiritual  life.  Let  the  school  provide 
such  teachers  with  all  the  materials  they  can  use, 
such  as  sand  tables,  coloured  paper,  pictures  and 
crayons  for  the  little  folks,  clay  and  sand,  blocks, 
drawing  materials,  blank  books  and  outlines,  for 
those  of  the  elementary  division.  A  boy  who  has 
helped  build  an  oriental  house  and  constructed  its 
"  roof,"  is  not  likely  to  forget  the  faith  of  those 
who  bore  the  palsied  man.  For  further  treatment 
of  "  Manual  Methods,"  see  Chapter  XII. 

Music:  Ample  provision  should  be  made  here, 
first  in  instruments  to  lead  in  song,  using  not  only 
the  stirring  piano,  but  every  other  accordant  in- 
strument available.  Much  depends  on  well-chosen 
song  books,  but  a  good  deal  more  in  wise  choosing 


94  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

of  hymns  from  the  books.  Choose  your  hymn  books 
for  the  school,  not  because  you  can  get  three  hun- 
dred trashy  ones  given  you  by  buying  a  dozen 
editions  de  luxe,  nor  because  they  contain  the  songs 
that  are  all  the  rage,  nor  because  they  contain 
those  that  the  old  saints  dearly  love,  but  because 
they  have  in  them  hymns  which  are  fitted  to  ex- 
press the  noblest  aspirations,  and  the  true  worship 
of  the  pupils.  Use  the  time-tested  hymns,  the 
honest,  sensible,  educational,  live  h3rtnns.  See  that 
you  have  enough  books  for  all. 

In  general,  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  work 
of  the  Sunday  school  is  as  much  more  important 
than  that  of  a  purely  secular  institution  as  the 
spiritual  interests  are  above  all  others,  and  that, 
therefore,  the  equipment  should  be  at  least  ade- 
quate to  the  work  to  be  accomplished. 


X 

PROGEAM 

By  program  we  mean  the  schedule  of  the  school's 
work  at  each  session.  Some  schools  are  con- 
ducted; others  meander  and  often  get  lost.  The 
former  have  carefully  prepared  and  definite  pro- 
grams; the  latter  do  not.  A  school  on  a  schedule 
means  a  school  that  arrives  somewhere. 

/.   Characteristics  of  a  Good  Program 

1.  It  will  be  Carefully  Planned.  Time  must 
be  spent  on  its  preparation.  The  general  form  will 
be  adopted  by  the  officers  of  the  school ;  the  items 
for  each  session  will  be  selected  by  the  officers  who 
will  have  charge  of  the  school  or  division  of  the 
school.  The  superintendent,  therefore,  will  have 
his  hymns,  references  and  all  other  details  chosen 
and  set  down  before  he  comes  into  the  schoolroom. 

2.  Eeverent,  both  as  to  matter  used  and  as  to 
manner  of  using.  The  program  is  no  small  part 
of  the  teaching.  Let  every  hymn,  reading  or  other 
exercise  be  selected  with  reference  to  its  influence 
on  the  pupil's  life;  let  every  detail  be  carried  out, 
even  to  the  announcements,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
strengthen    feelings    of   worship,    of   honour   for 

95 


96  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

things  divine^  and  of  desire  for  nobler  life.  Noth- 
ing counts  for  more  in  the  education  of  a  child 
than  the  extent  to  which  and  the  manner  in  which 
he  expresses  himself  naturally  in  such  collective 
acts  as  singing,  praying  and  reading. 

3.  Vaeied,  that  is,  not  using  the  same  program 
every  week.  Change  the  order  of  items  in  the 
main  parts  of  the  program  as  well  as  the  items 
themselves.     Keep  out  of  ruts. 

4.  Unitary.  Avoid  scattering.  Make  all  parts 
fit  together.  Do  not  sing  "  Peace,  Perfect  Peace," 
when  the  reading  or  prayer  should  have  aroused 
to  action,  to  warfare  for  the  right. 

5.  Bright.  Avoid  dirges.  You  can  forever  set 
the  mind  against  some  of  the  finest  hymns,  either 
by  singing  them  before  the  child  is  ready  for  them, 
setting  his  expression  ahead  of  his  experience,  or 
by  droning  them  out  to  dreary  music.  The  linked 
sweetness  of  song  is  lost  when  long  drawn  out. 
Arrange  your  program  for  warm  blood,  for  young 
life;  keep  it  wide-awake.  This  does  not  mean 
that  the  school  must  feel  like  a  village  street  on 
the  Fourth  of  July;  alertness,  vigour,  life,  and 
natural  interest  need  never  be  rowdy  or  irreverent. 

6.  Brief.  Limit  each  section  of  the  program 
strictly  to  its  allotment  of  time;  let  no  section  be 
so  long  as  to  weary  any.  The  actual  time  will  de- 
pend on  the  division  for  which  the  program  is 
arranged. 


KINDS    OF   PROGRAMS  97 

7.  Suited  to  Each  Special  Division.  Where 
separate  programs  can  be  used  in  each  division 
those  who  best  understand  the  division  should 
arrange  each  one.  Where  one  program  must  be 
followed  by  all,  the  interests  of  each  must  be  con- 
sidered. Above  all,  avoid  preparing  the  program 
to  suit  your  adult  tastes  and  experiences.  There 
are  certain  hymns,  certain  psalms,  very  precious  to 
3^ou  on  account  of  certain  experiences;  remember 
the  pupils  have  not  had  those  experiences;  it  is  a 
greater  injustice  to  try  to  force  that  experience  on 
them  than  it  would  be  to  make  them  wear  their 
fathers'  clothes.  A  healthy  boy  does  not  "  long 
to  rise  in  the  arms  of  faith,"  and  if  he  is  sighing 
for  "  Peace,  Perfect  Peace,"  he  needs  a  doctor. 

II.    Kinds  of  Programs 

There  should  be  a  different  kind  of  program 
for  each  division  of  the  school.  Some  very  small 
schools  may  find  it  necessary  to  have  all  the  classes 
meet  for  the  opening  exercises  in  a  common  as- 
sembly. This  should  be  avoided  wherever  possible. 
At  least  let  the  Primary  meet  altogether  separate 
from  the  rest.  It  will  be  found  a  great  advantage 
to  have  the  three  main  divisions  meet  separately, 
each  having  its  own  program  suited  to  its  needs. 

1.  The  Primary  Program.  Here  there  has 
long  been  a  fuller  recognition  than  elsewhere  of  the 
fact  that  the  program  is  part  of  the  teaching; 


98    THE    MODERN"    SUNDAY    SCHOOL 

there  is  often  no  formal  division  into  opening 
exercises  and  class  period;  it  is  all  class,  all  exer- 
cise, all  teaching.  But  the  greatest  care,  sym- 
pathy, and  skill  is  needed  in  mapping  out  the 
work  of  this  division  lest  it  become  no  more  than 
a  constant  effort  to  interest  by  means  of  a  variety 
of  striking  things  without  regard  to  the  kind  of 
interests  that  are  aroused.  There  are  too  many 
Primary  workers  who  think  that  the  only  equip- 
ment they  need  is  a  soft  manner,  a  baby  tone  and 
a  stock  of  infantile  narratives,  mostly  apocryphal. 
Fortunately  there  are  many  others  who  fully  un- 
derstand that  here,  if  anywhere,  the  work  done 
must  be  carefully  based  upon  a  study  of  the  child's 
nature  and  with  his  spiritual  culture  steadily  in 
view.  It  is  folly  to  endeavour  to  put  small  chil- 
dren through  the  paces  of  a  program  prepared  for 
adolescents  or  for  the  old  saints'  Bible  class  over 
in  the  corner.  Let  your  Primary  program  be 
worked  out  by  those  who  will  take  the  nains  to 
study  the  child. 

2.  The  Elementary  Program.  Here  you  are 
leading  boys  and  girls;  the  program  affords  splen- 
did opportunities  for  their  religious  self-expres- 
sion. Through  it  they  can  be  allowed  to  do  many 
things,  to  cultivate  many  excellent  habits,  to  ex- 
press often  the  best  in  them,  through  the  sense  of 
team-work,  of  being  one  in  an  organisation,  when 
all  these  things  would  lie  dormant  but  for  the 


ELEMENTARY    PROGRAM  99 

mass  effect  of  a  congregation.  The  program,  then, 
should  be  constructed  to  give  expression  to  wor- 
ship, to  aspiration  and  noble  resolution;  it  should 
also  lift  up  its  own  ideals,  just  beyond  the  ex- 
perience of  the  participants,  but  not  beyond  their 
reach.  Above  all,  let  it  be  natural;  let  all  things 
be  expressed  as  far  as  possible  as  they  would 
naturally  express  themselves.  Don't  ask  healthy 
boys  to  sing  "  I  want  to  be  an  angel,"  and  to  be 
sincere  about  it;  they  don't.  Let  the  arrangement 
of  the  details  of  the  program  in  order  and  length 
be  suited  to  the  activity  and  restlessness  of  this 
period.  You  can  make  your  program  over,  but 
you  cannot  do  that  with  the  boys  and  girls. 

If  in  any  place  the  program  will  need  more 
attention  and  skill  than  in  others  it  will  be  in 
the  Elementary  Division,  and  where  the  rest  of 
the  school,  except  the  Kindergarten  or  Beginners, 
meets  together  the  program  must  be  built  for  the 
needs  of  the  pupils  in  the  Elementary  Division. 
Here  it  is  often  well  to  open  with  a  brief  prayer, 
sometimes  in  silence,  or  with  a  sentence  repeated 
by  all;  at  other  times  with  a  bright  processional 
song.  Then  responsive  reading,  preferably  not  of 
the  lesson,  but  of  some  short  impressive  Psalm. 
Vary  the  method  of  responding,  but  not  so  as  to 
spoil  the  effect.  Repeat  portions  of  former  readings 
from  memory.  Select  your  hymns  with  great 
care;  they  are  mighty  teachers.     Learn  to  know 


100  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

what  are  the  really  great  hymns,  the  splendid 
heritage  of  our  faith.  Let  the  school  learn  to  sing 
these  without  books.  The  music  should  always  be 
as  reverent  and  educative  as  the  rest  of  the  pro- 
gram. Keep  the  best  tunes  for  the  best  hymns. 
Eemember  the  law  of  appropriateness.  Don't  be 
deceived  by  the  silly  saying  about  the  devil  having 
all  the  best  tunes;  tunes  appropriate  to  deviltry 
are  not  fitting  to  worship.  The  prayer  should 
always  be  brief;  especially  endeavour  to  express 
yourself  naturally,  not  in  a  "holy  tone,"  nor  in 
hackneyed  phrases  long  since  emptied  of  meaning ; 
use  language  at  least  such  as  a  child  could  use. 
You  are  not  praying  for  his  edification;  but  you 
are  praying  with  him. 

As  to  the  Closing  Program:  certainly,  if  the 
divisions  meet  separately  for  class  work  it  is  un- 
wise to  call  them  together  for  this  every  Sunday. 
Make  your  closing  work  brief.  Under  no  circum- 
stances allow  strangers  and  people  who  want  to 
relieve  their  vacuous  minds  to  address  the  school. 
Much  harm  may  be  done  by  numerous  reports  and 
announcements  blurring  the  impression  made  by 
the  lesson.  All  necessary  reports  may  be  placed, 
without  comment  as  a  rule,  on  the  blackboard. 
There  is  no  need  to  transact  school  business  here ; 
keep  it  for  the  teachers'  meeting.  Have  a  hymn 
that  strengthens  the  lesson  taught,  then  dismiss 
either  with  a  prayer  or  a  recessional  hymn,  in 


SENIOR    PEOGRAM  101 

either  case  the  classes  going  out  in  order,  one  at 
a  time. 

If  all  the  classes  have  had  the  same  lesson  and 
you  feel  you  must  have  a  general  review,  keep  it 
down  to  five  minutes;  a  brief  review  is  the  only 
good  one. 

Distribute  papers  and  other  printed  matter 
either  by  the  teachers  after  dismissal,  or  by  ushers 
in  the  vestibules;  never  in  the  classes  if  you  have 
any  desire  to  gain  attention  or  preserve  order. 

3.  The  Senior  and  Adult  Programs.  These 
divisions  will  desire  to  give  more  time  to  the  class 
work  and  will  need  a  much  shorter  program  of 
opening  exercises,  and  will  ordinarily  dismiss  di- 
rectly from  their  classes. 

The  following  general  plan  has  many  advan- 
tages: Let  the  Kindergarten  and  the  Primary 
grades  meet  each  in  its  own  room  and  follow  its 
own  program.  Let  all  the  Elementary  and  Sec- 
ondary grades  meet  in  the  church  and  there  follow 
a  program  embracing  the  features  of  both  the 
opening  and  the  closing  exercises,  any  reports  or 
reviews  being  for  the  Sunday  foregoing.  The 
Senior  and  Adult  grades  are  at  liberty  to  attend 
these  exercises,  but  they  are  under  no  obligation 
to  do  so;  they  may,  if  they  wish,  as  individuals, 
go  directly  to  their  classes  which  assemble  at  the 
time  when  these  exercises  close  and  the  class  work 
begins.    All  grades  dismiss,  on  the  ringing  of  an 


102    THE    MODEElSr    SUNDAY    SCHOOL 

electric  hell,  directly  from  their  class  or  grade 
rooms. 

4.  Special  Programs.  Do  not  allow  the  regular 
work  of  the  school  to  be  interrupted  and  its  sched- 
ule chopped  up  by  the  tendency  to  make  almost 
every  other  Sunday  some  kind  of  a  special  day. 
But  on  rare  occasions  it  is  well  to  prepare  special 
programs  in  order  to  deepen  and  to  tie  up  to  our 
religious  life  the  best  things  in  our  social  and  na- 
tional life.  Then  there  should  be  special  programs 
for  the  anniversary  day  of  the  school,  for  the  day 
when  the  pupils  are  promoted.  It  is  seldom  nec- 
essary for  any  of  these  to  seriously  interfere  with 
the  regular  class  work  of  the  school.  They  must 
not  be  allowed  to  run  over  into  the  lesson  period. 

Some  schools  have  found  it  a  very  good  plan  to 
have  an  entirely  different  program  through  the 
vacation  season.  They  lay  aside  the  regular  course 
of  lessons  in  the  upper  grades  and  gather,  either 
in  one  congregation,  or  in  two  or  three  division 
groups,  to  listen  to  addresses  by  speakers  especially 
qualified  to  talk  on  such  subjects  as  Settlement 
Work,  What  Our  Church  is  Doing  for  the  Indians, 
etc.;  other  programs  take  up  The  Great  Hymn 
Writers,  singing  many  of  their  hymns.  Under 
this  arrangement  the  school  will  either  meet  later 
or  adjourn  earlier  than  during  the  rest  of  the 
year. 


MAKING   THE    PROGRAM  103 

III.    The  Preparation  of  the  Program 

First  see  that  it  is  the  result  of  preparation, 
and  not  of  accident.  Few  things  need  more  at- 
tention and  few  will  give  better  returns.  The 
superintendent  may  well  make  this  his  constant 
study;  it  is  his  principal  duty.  Let  him  learn 
what  others  are  doing.  Let  him  frequently  confer 
wdth  his  best  advisers  as  to  improvements  in  his 
schedule  of  work,  and  particularly  in  the  items 
outside  the  class  period.  Let  him  secure  the  serv- 
ices of  competent  committees  to  prepare  the 
opening  and  closing  programs  of  each  division. 
Such  a  committee  should  make  up  a  large  number 
of  such  programs,  leaving  the  hymn  numbers  and 
Scripture  passages  blank;  the  superintendents 
would  then  select  from  these  the  one  they  wished 
to  use,  selecting  different  ones  from  Sunday  to 
Sunday. 

There  are  many  excellent  books  of  programs  for 
Sunday-school  worship  already  publish;  they 
contain  a  number  of  outlines  of  exercises  in  detail. 
But,  on  the  whole,  a  better  plan  is  to  have  a 
thoroughly  good  hymn-book,  containing  usable 
responsive  readings,  in  the  hands  of  every  pupil; 
then  have  printed  and  pasted  in  this  book  a  series 
of  outline  programs,  so  that  you  can  say,  "  We 
will  use  Program  No.  5  to-day,"  for  example. 
The  pupils  will  then  know  just  what  order  will  be 


104  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

followed  while  their  activities  will  be  enlisted  in 
finding  the  hymns  and  readings  in  the  book. 

Keep  your  program  out  of  the  ruts;  never  rest 
satisfied  with  it.  Keep  it  strictly  to  the  great 
educational  aims  of  the  school. 

In  the  average  school  fully  as  much  time  is 
occupied  with  what  are  called  the  opening  and 
closing  exercises  as  with  the  lesson.  The  truth 
is,  these  exercises  constitute  often  a  greater  lesson 
of  deeper  and  more  lasting  power  than  the  formal 
lesson  itself.  They  should  be  arranged  and  de- 
signed with  a  view  to  their  educational  effect.  No 
matter  how  reverent,  how  wisely  and  helpfully 
spiritual,  nor  how  instructive  your  lesson  may  be 
in  the  class  period,  it  is  easy  to  undo  all  the  good 
it  may  have  done  in  a  few  minutes'  careless,  ir- 
reverent, undignified  reading,  singing,  or  praying. 
The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek;  in  the  class  the 
pupil  is  often  no  more  than  a  listener;  in  the 
"  exercises "  he  is  a  participant,  nearly  all  his 
senses  are  brought  into  activity,  and  the  impres- 
sion is  thus  the  stronger  and  more  enduring. 


XI 

CLASS  WOEK 

.This  is  a  study  of  the  management  of  the  class 
and  the  conduct  of  the  school  during  the  lesson 
period;  it  is  concerned  only  with  administration 
and  not  at  all  with  the  teaching,  the  latter  coming 
properly  in  a  course  of  study  on  Sunday-school 
pedagogy. 

Since  teaching  is  the  great  function  of  the 
school  the  class  is  the  sphere  of  its  greatest  work. 
By  its  effectiveness  the  whole  school  is  to  be 
measured,  and  to  its  service  all  other  activities 
must  bend.  There  is  a  tendency  to  forget  this, 
to  crowd  the  time  with  concerts  and  performances 
and  speeches,  and  to  make  the  school  a  weekly 
entertainment  in  which  the  lesson  is  pushed  into 
a  corner,  or  occupies  a  place  only  by  sufferance. 
Let  the  lesson  have  the  largest  place  in  time,  at- 
tention, interest,  and  effort. 

I.    Requirements  of  Effective  Class  Worh 

1.  A  Teacher  Qualified.  The  first  necessary 
qualification  is  moral  character.  This  teaches  most 
of  all,  and  without  it  all  other  teaching  is  in- 
effective. Then  the  teacher  should  have  Christian 
experience.    You  cannot  lead  in  a  road  you  have 

105 


106    THE   MODERN"   SUNDAY   SCHOOL 

never  travelled.  To-day  every  teacher  may  be  also 
qualified  with  professional  training,  may  be  a 
graduate  of  a  teacher-training  course,  at  least  in 
the  art  of  teaching  and  in  the  material  to  be 
taught.  The  teacher  must  know  at  least  three 
things,  the  one  to  be  taught  (this  is  of  first  im- 
portance), the  things  to  be  taught,  and  the  method 
of  teaching  them. 

2.  A  Teacher  Prepared.  This  is  specific  prep- 
aration for  the  particular  lesson,  but  it  must  involve 
the  ample  preparation  of  a  great  deal  more  than 
you  expect  to  teach  in  that  lesson;  there  must  be 
a  wide  margin  of  safety  in  the  material  you  have 
in  hand.  Learn  how  to  prepare.  The  school 
ought  to  afford  its  teachers  every  facility  for  les- 
son preparation;  it  should  provide  a  good  library 
of  reference,  so  placed  that  teachers  may  consult 
it  at  least  on  several  evenings  in  the  week. 

The  teacher  owes  more,  however,  than  the  tech- 
nical or  spiritual  preparation  of  the  lesson  ma- 
terial; there  is  an  essential  personal  preparation. 
Many  of  the  problems  of  failures  in  Sunday  teach- 
ing would  be  understood  if  we  examined  the  Sat- 
urday night.  Let  the  teacher  come  physically 
refreshed  and  ready,  in  good  spirits. 

3.  Scholars  Prepared.  Constant,  carefully 
planned  effort  will  secure  the  study  of  the  lesson 
at  home  by  the  scholar.  Use  printed  slips  con- 
taining questions  on  next  Sunday's  lesson,  assign 


HOME    STUDY  107 

definite  work,  suggest  interesting  points  to  be 
looked  up.  Be  sure  to  ask  for  the  work  you  assign. 
Enlist  the  co-operation  of  the  parents;  send  to 
them  the  work  you  wish  to  have  done  at  home. 
Go  to  the  home  and  show  the  pupil  how  to  study. 
Test  the  scholar^s  preparation  in  the  class  so  that 
he  will  expect  that  you  will  expect  him  to  be  pre- 
pared. 

A  HOME  STUDY  CARD 


To  THE  Parent  (or  Guardian)  of 
Scholar 


Will  you  not  aid  in  the  work  of  the  School  by 
seeing  that  your  child  reads  the  following  passages 
in  the  Bible  for  next  Sunday's  lesson  ? 


Signed- 


Parent  signs  here  when  passages  have  been  read 


These  cards,  given  out  on  one  Sunday,  with  the 
references  for  that  following  written  in,  should 
be  taken  up  on  the  next  Sunday. 

4.  A  Place  Prepared.  The  advantage  of  a 
classroom  is  conceded  by  all.  It  is  an  advantage  that 
is  multiplied  manifold  if  the  teacher  will  see  that 
the  room  is  prepared  for  the  class.  See  that  it  is 
clean,  orderly,  ventilated,  with  books  and  class 


108  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

materials  in  place,  with,  blackboard  ready  for 
business.  Endeavour  to  have  the  room  properly 
equipped  with  all  things  that  will  really  help  your 
work.  Let  scholars  co-operate  in  this;  they  will 
be  especially  interested  in  collecting  objects  for 
an  oriental  museum.  Even  if  you  cannot  have  a 
separate  classroom  come  early  enough  to  see  that 
your  section  of  chairs  or  pews  is  ready  for  the 
class. 

5.  A  Place  Protected.  It  is  the  business  of 
every  officer  in  the  school  to  co-operate  with  the 
teachers  in  the  lesson  period  by  staying  away  from 
the  class,  and  by  protecting  it  from  distractions 
and  interruptions.  Even  a  room  is  of  little  ad- 
vantage if  the  door  is  to  be  opened  every  few 
minutes.  The  secretary  has  many  things  to 
answer  for  here;  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  stand 
before  a  class  and  count  noses,  or  even  to  appear 
at  all  during  the  lesson  period.  By  using  the  en- 
velope shown  in  Chapter  XVI  the  teacher  may 
have  all  the  work  of  class-marking,  and  the  col- 
lection of  Home  Study  papers,  accomplished  in 
less  than  a  minute.  The  envelopes  and  papers 
can  be  placed  in  the  box  belonging  to  that  class 
and  set  down  outside  the  classroom,  or  in  any 
place  accessible  to  the  secretary.  Do  not  allow 
anyone  to  interrupt  your  teachers.  The  superin- 
tendents should  visit,  but  never  interrupt. 

6.  A  Period  Rightly  Used.  Let  the  teacher  re- 


EFFECTIVE    CLASS    WORK         109 

member  that  the  whole  organisation  of  the  school, 
with  all  the  work  involved,  has  been  for  the  lesson 
period.  It  is  therefore  a  crime  against  the  scholar, 
against  those  who  conduct  the  school,  against  the 
Master  to  waste  that  time  either  in  gossip,  trivial- 
ities, mere  visiting,  or  in  ineffectual,  haphazard, 
half-hearted  playing  at  teaching. 

II.   Aids  to  Effective  Class  WorJc 

(1)  Class  Organisation,  wUh.  officers,  name 
and  badge.  This  is  valuable  for  the  Elementary 
grades. 

(2)  Class  Meetings,  interests,  sports,  studies, 
activities,  excursions  during  the  week. 

(3)  Occupation  or  Manual  Work  by  pupils, 
at  benches  or  tables.  Sand-maps,  clay-modelling, 
writing,  drawing,  cutting,  pasting  pictures,  mak- 
ing scrap-books  on  Bible  stories,  constructing 
chronological  Life  of  Christ  in  blank  books.  All 
especially  valuable,  because  based  on  great  psycho- 
logical principles,  for  the  Elementary  grades. 
(See  Chapter  XIL) 

(4)  Regular  Recognition  in  the  school  records 
of  effective  work  by  the  scholar.  Unless  it  makes 
a  difference  whether  one  does  the  work  or  not, 
it  will  not  be  long  that  anyone  does  the  work.  If 
the  school  does  not  care  enough  to  give  credit 
and  to  record  that  credit,  the  scholar  will  not  care 
enough  to  do  the  work.     A  good  plan  is  to  work 


110  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

out  a  percentage  basis  of  marks  for  certain  required 
things  for  each  Sunday,  as,  for  example,  Attend- 
ance 50  per  cent..  Home  study  work  20  per  cent., 
Bible  at  school  10  per  cent.,  an  Offering  (not  based 
on  amount)  10  per  cent..  Deportment  10  per  cent., 
making  100  perfect.  Of  far  greater  importance 
than  the  accurate  adjustment  of  the  percentages, 
however,  is  it  that  whatever  plan  is  adopted  shall 
be  faithfully  followed,  rigidly  marked,  and  just 
credits  always  given. 

(5)  Proper  Examination  will  be  found  an  ef- 
fective aid  to  class  work.  Certain  reasons  may  be 
given  in  answer  to  the  frequent  question.  Why 
have  Examinations  in  the  Sunday  school?  They 
give  definiteness,  intent,  to  the  teaching  work; 
they  promote  diligence  on  the  part  of  the  pupil; 
they  serve  to  review  the  work  accomplished,  to 
strengthen  weak  points  and  to  emphasise  the  im- 
portant ones;  they  enlist  the  pupil's  activities; 
they  test  the  teacher's  work;  the  results  give  clues 
as  to  the  character  of  the  work  that  must  follow. 

Many  objections  are  urged  against  examina- 
tions :  It  is  said  that  pupils  do  not  like  them ;  they 
make  the  work  more  difficult,  etc.  The  truth  is 
the  pupils  do  not  fear  work,  but  they  do  despise 
the  slipshod  methods  and  the  school  that  is  always 
pandering  to  their  whims.  Make  the  school  more 
valuable  to  them  and  you  will  have  no  need  to 
fear  losing  them.    It  is  said  that  the  examination 


EXAMINATIONS  111 

sets  up  intellectual  tests  in  spiritual  things.  But 
faith  is  founded  on  facts;  truth  is  intellectually 
apprehended.  You  cannot  disassociate  the  life 
from  the  things  learned.  Examinations  are  tests 
of  knowledge  and  not  of  character.  It  is  feared 
that  examinations  will  create  rivalries  and  feel- 
ings of  envy  if  the  standings  are  announced.  Why 
should  they  do  so  here  any  more  than  in  the  public 
school?  They  will  not  if  conducted  with  absolute 
impartiality  and  fairness. 

Suggestions  as  to  Examinations:  (1)  Make 
them  real  testings  of  knowledge,  but  do  not  set 
up  top-lofty  academic  standards;  remember  how 
small  is  the  total  of  time  given  to  the  lessons. 
(2)  Have  them  quarterly,  oral  for  the  lower,  and 
written  for  the  Secondary  grades.  (3)  Let  all  the 
work  of  the  quarter,  attendance,  study,  deport- 
ment, etc.,  count  toward  final  standing.  (4)  Do 
not  promote  pupils  on  their  examination  stand- 
ings, but  on  their  public  school  grades,  or  their  age 
(see  Chapter  VII).  (5)  Whatever  you  do,  be  al- 
ways absolutely  square  and  honest  to  the  least  item 
in  the  questions  and  in  the  markings. 


XII 

MANUAL  METHODS 

While  it  is  not  possible  in  treating  of  the  man- 
agement of  the  Sunday  school  to  deal  fully  with 
the  whole  question  of  method  in  teaching,  there  are 
certain  points  at  which  method  will  depend  on 
management,  on  the  material  provision  made  for 
the  teacher's  equipment.  This  is  particularly  true 
in  regard  to  the  adoption  of  what  are  known  as 
Manual  Methods  in  the  Sunday  school.  The  wise 
teacher,  recognising  their  pedagogical  value  and 
necessity,  will  desire  to  use  them ;  but  it  will  also 
be  necessary  for  the  school  as  an  institution  to 
make  provision  for  their  use. 

1.  What  is  meant  by  ''Manual  Methods." 

It  ought  to  be  understood  that  manual  methods 
are  no  new,  passing  fad  in  the  Sunday  school; 
that  they  are  familiar  and  regarded  as  fundamental 
in  regular  educational  work.  Reduced  to  the  sim- 
plest terms  manual  method  means  the  enlistment 
of  the  pupil's  self-activities  by  the  use  of  his 
hands  in  the  work  of  the  class.  It  is  the  applica- 
tion to  the  Sunday  school  of  the  methods  so  suc- 
cessfully used  by  the  public  school  in  the  teaching 
of  history,  geography,  mathematics,  and  literature, 

112 


MANUAL   METHODS  113 

such  as  reproducing  the  object  mentioned,  con- 
structing models,  moukling  or  drawing  maps, 
making  books  which  retell  the  story  told  and,  in 
general,  handling  the  materials  themselves,  or 
symbols  of  the  materials  which  are  the  objects  of 
the  class  work. 

No  one  who  has  seen  a  class  of  boys  or  of  girls, 
of  the  most  restless,  and,  according  to  popular 
opinion,  the  most  mischievous  age,  standing  or 
seated  about  a  table,  wholly  engrossed  in  building 
a  model  of  the  temple,  moulding  a  relief  map  of 
Jerusalem,  or  tracing  the  details  of  some  story 
of  the  Bible,  or  who  has  seen  their  evident  pleasure 
and  pride  as  they  bring  to  the  school  some  work 
done  at  home,  such  as  reproductions  of  oriental 
garments,  tents,  weapons,  etc.,  can  doubt  that  here 
is  a  way  of  interesting  them  in  that  which  other- 
wise has  often  been  dull  and  forbidding. 

Manual  methods  must  not  be  confused,  however, 
with  the  plans  of  class  exercises  and  entertain- 
ments which  have  the  sole  purpose  of  amusing  the 
pupils,  or  restraining  them  from  misconduct;  they 
must  not  be  adopted  by  the  school  and  the  teacher 
simply  because  they  have  the  effect  of  "  keeping 
the  children  still."  The  motive  for  their  adoption 
must  be  their  value  in  fulfilling  the  educational 
purposes  of  the  school,  the  religious  education  of 
the  pupils;  that  is  their  real  spiritual  value;  and 
the  only  reason  for  considering  these  methods  here 


114  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

is  that,  though  they  are  comparatively  new  to  the 
Sunday  school,  they  are  of  first-rate  importance 
and  value  to  its  work. 

In  practice  manual  methods  may  be  classified 
as  follows : 

1.  Outline  work,  including  drawings  of  objects 
(may  be  very  crude  and  conventionalised  in  lower 
grades),  diagrams,  illustrations  of  persons,  places, 
events,  reproductions  of  texts  and  passages  in 
colour. 

2.  Object  worlc,  including  models,  as  of  houses, 
tents,  carts,  furniture,  tools,  weapons,  facsim- 
iles of  clothing,  etc.,  figures  representing  char- 
acters and  scenes;  may  be  of  paper,  wood,  pulp, 
fibre,  clay. 

3.  Map  worl;  outline  drawings,  moulding  re- 
liefs in  clay,  pulp,  etc.,  building  sectional  or  chron- 
ological maps  along  with  development  of  the 
lesson  story,  colour  work  on  map  outlines,  travel 
maps.  Eoom  for  infinite  variety  here;  one  rough, 
hand-made  map  is  worth  a  dozen  finely  finished 
printed  ones. 

4.  Book  work,  including  note  books,  written  up 
on  each  lesson,  illustrated  with  drawings  by  pupils, 
or  with  pictures  pasted  in,  with  water-colour  or 
crayon  work,  or  with  diagrams;  history  retold 
by  pupils;  narratives  reproduced;  harmonies  of 
life  of  Christ,  Paul,  etc.,  constructed  by  pasting 
in  portions  of  the  Gospels,  or  Acts,  and  Epistles, 


WHY   MANUAL   METHODS?         115 

in  chronological  order  and  with  explanatory  notes ; 
pupils  reproducing  all  class  work;  essays;  travel 
books  following  footsteps  of  Paul  or  of  Jesus; 
scrap  books  of  masterpieces  of  Bible  literature, 
classified  under  Poetry,  Oratory,  etc. 

5.  Museum  work.  The  collection  and  the  manu- 
facture of  articles,  such  as  coins,  parchment  scrolls, 
garments,  weapons,  relics,  pictures,  stones,  photo- 
graphs, natural  products,  industrial  objects  of 
Bible  times,  to  be  installed  in  a  permanent  exhibit 
belonging  to  the  grade  or  to  the  school.  Especially 
helpful  will  be  a  collection  of  stereographs,  to  be 
used  with  stereoscope  in  geography  or  history 
work. 

II.  Reasons  for  Manual  Methods. 

Manual  methods  are  the  simple  working  out  of 
sound  educational  principles.  Not  what  the  child 
takes  in,  but  what  he  gives  out  determines  char- 
acter. Froebel  insisted  that  the  child  should  do 
things  for  himself,  should  learn  by  doing,  should 
give  expression  to  his  own  self  through  his  natural 
activities.  "  To  learn  a  thing  in  life  and  through 
doing  is  much  more  developing,  cultivating,  and 
strengthening  than  to  learn  it  merely  through 
verbal  communication  of  ideas."  This  is  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  pupil  develops  his  own  powers 
while  appropriating  to  himself  all  his  heritage  of 
the  world  of  knowledge.  Froebel  also  insisted 
that  in  this  activity  every  power  of  the  life  should 


116  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

have  its  part,  not  only  the  purely  intellectual,  but 
the  whole  and  united  self  of  feeling,  intellect,  and 
will.  This  is  the  principle  used  by  the  public 
school.  Talk  with  the  child  when  he  comes  from 
school  and  you  will  find  his  glowing  enthusiasm 
concerns  itself,  not  with  what  he  has  heard  or 
been  told  in  the  schoolroom,  but  with  what  he 
has  done  at  his  desk,  at  the  board,  in  the  shop,  or 
workroom.  No  longer  does  the  teacher  lecture  or 
drill  on  names  and  numbers  and  dates;  no  longer 
is  the  pupil  regarded  as  plastic  clay  to  receive  im- 
prints; he  is  living,  a  worker  and  creator  to  form 
himself,  by  his  own  powers,  the  conception  in  the 
teacher^s  mind. 

III.  Why  in  the  Sunday  school. 

The  reasons  for  manual  methods  in  the  Sunday 
school  may  be  briefly  stated  thus :  it  is  the  natural 
way  of  education  through  self-activity;  it  involves 
self-expression  upon  which  the  value  of  all  im- 
pression depends;  it  enlists  a  larger  proportion  of 
the  child's  whole  life;  it  follows  the  laws  of  his 
developing  nature,  his  desire  to  do,  to  create; 
it  accords  with  the  play  spirit  which  is  really 
only  the  creation  spirit;  it  secures  co-operation 
through  the  whole  class,  teaching  pupils  to  work 
with  others,  developing  the  social  spirit;  it  never 
fails  to  secure  interest,  the  basis  of  attention;  it 
removes  religion  from  the  realm  of  the  abstract 
and  unreal  to  the  practical,  concrete  and  close-at- 


ADVANTAGES  OF  MANUAL  WORK  117 

hand;  it  co-ordinates  the  work  of  the  Sunday 
school  with  that  of  the  day  school,  tending  to 
make  the  pupiFs  education  unitary. 

The  simple  advantageous  result  which  will  first 
appear  from  using  this  method  will  be  that  the 
problem  of  the  restless,  motor  pupil  is  solved ;  you 
have  enlisted  and  are  directing  his  activities.  This 
advantage,  at  first  appearing  only  superficial, 
though  recognised  as  welcome,  is  really  of  greater 
value  than  we  realise,  for  it  means  not  only  quiet 
and  order,  and  therefore  better  class  work  and 
better  work  all  through  the  school,  but  it  also 
means  that  you  have  found  the  law  of  that  boy's 
life.  It  is  certain  you  can  never  come  near 
enough  to  him  to  teach  him  until  you  do  know 
and  obey  the  laws  of  his  life,  until  you  find  the 
plane  of  his  interests  and  the  pulse  of  his  activities 
and  begin  to  move  with  them. 

IV.    Objections  Considered. 

But  there  are  serious  difficulties  in  the  adoption 
of  manual  methods.  We  meet,  first,  with  popular 
prejudice  against  what  seems  to  be  so  radical  a 
change.  Often  the  opposition  is  due  to  the  folly 
of  those  who  seek  to  introduce  the  methods;  they 
would  use  them  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  school 
activities,  or  they  would  impose  the  method  whole- 
sale on  the  school,  compelling  its  adoption  in  every 
grade,  regardless  of  the  fitness  of  teachers  for  this 
work.    No  improvement  can  be  secured  very  much 


118  THE  MODEEN"  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

in  advance  of  intelligence.  Be  sure  that  at  least 
the  school  officers  and  the  teachers  understand  the 
principles  upon  which  these  methods  are  based. 
Introduce  them  gradually;  good  methods,  like  all 
other  truly  educational  processes,  must  grow.  First 
allow  some  teacher,  or  teachers,  who  really  under- 
stand both  the  philosophy  and  the  practice  to  try 
the  methods  in  classes.  Then  let  these  train  others. 
Let  the  use  of  these  methods,  in  so  far  as  they 
constitute  a  change,  justify  themselves  completely 
step  by  step  in  their  introduction  and  use. 

Another  apparent  difficulty  in  the  use  of  manual 
methods  is  that  the  school  has,  as  a  rule,  so  little 
time  at  its  disposal  for  the  lesson.  The  teacher 
asks,  "  Can  I  do  more  than  get  the  class  started  and 
the  material  prepared  in  the  space  of  twenty  min- 
utes ?  "  It  will  be  a  fortunate  thing  if  the  use  of 
these  methods  makes  class  work  so  interesting  as 
to  necessitate  the  extension  of  the  time  for  the 
lesson.  That  this  is  one  of  the  effects  is  the  com- 
mon observation  wherever  they  are  tried.  In  many 
instances  pupils  voluntarily  stay  after  school  to 
finish  some  piece  of  work.  Then  the  teacher  must 
be  willing  to  come  before  the  school  hour  to  pre- 
pare the  materials  and  to  lay  out  the  work;  she 
will  find  plenty  of  willing  assistants  among  the 
pupils.  The  question  of  time  will  be  answered 
from  the  experience  of  the  teacher  by  saying  that 
the  usual  lesson  time  is  all  too  long  for  the  dull 


DIFFICULTIES    IN    MANUAL   WOEK  119 

routine  that  often  passes  for  teaching;  necessity 
will  compel  the  use  of  more  time — which  will 
seem  like  much  less — when  real  teaching  is  being 
done.  The  truth  is  that  manual  methods  which 
seem  to  consume  more  time  really  save  much  time; 
the  pupil  here  learns  more,  gains  more  because  he 
is  giving  more  of  himself  to  the  work  in  hand. 
Then  the  teacher  will  find  that  the  pupils  are 
anxious  to  take  this  kind  of  work  home;  the  les- 
son period  naturally  extends  itself  through  the 
week. 

But,  one  asks,  "  Will  not  this  work  crowd  out 
the  spiritual  application  of  the  lesson?"  If  the 
teacher  is  filled  with  the  sense  that  the  house  that 
is  being  built,  or  the  map  being  made,  is  but  the 
vehicle  for  the  story  of  the  Master  who  healed 
there  or  walked  here,  the  spiritual  application  will 
take  care  of  itself.  Pupils  learn  things  spiritual, 
Bot  through  their  ears,  but  through  their  expe- 
riences. To  build  a  house  for  Jesus  is  a  long 
step  toward  living  with  Him.  Deepest  things  spir- 
itual come  out  through  service.  The  spiritual 
significances  must  permeate  every  act ;  they  are  lost 
if  we  try  to  tack  them  on  as  something  separate. 
It  is  well,  also,  to  remember  the  moral  and  spir- 
itual power  of  environment,  to  avoid  that  untidi- 
ness, through  paste  or  chips,  which  is  real  irrev- 
erence. 

''  But  what  of  the  cost  of  the  material  for  man- 


120    THE   MODERN"   SU^-DAY   SCHOOL 

ual  methods  ?  "  asks  the  prudent  officer.  The  cost 
must  not  be  large,  but  it  ought  to  be  sufficient  in 
view  of  the  work  to  be  accomplished.  Beware  of 
laying  in  a  large  stock  of  costly  material.  To  do  so 
is  to  defeat  the  end  in  view.  Especially  avoid  the 
purchase  of  elaborate  models  and  building  mate- 
rials ;  pupils  learn  only  with  those  things  that  re- 
quire labour  and  thought  for  their  adaptation  and 
construction.  The  school  should  provide  sand,  clay, 
note  books,  paste,  a  few  pairs  of  shears,  some 
coloured  paper,  string,  etc.  The  paper  pulp,  and 
also  the  trays,  stands,  and  boxes  may  be  made  by 
the  boys  themselves,  and  the  girls,  too,  either  at 
home  or  in  the  church  workroom;  the  work  will 
serve  to  tie  them  to  the  school. 

"  But  the  greatest  difficulty  of  all,  apparently,  is 
that  of  finding  those  who  are  qualified  to  use  these 
methods."  Herein  is  a  common  error.  Do  not 
think  you  must  have  trained  manual  experts.  For 
one  thing,  the  school  is  not  attempting  to  produce 
finished  works  of  art  for  exhibition  purposes.  Be- 
sides this,  the  teacher  does  not  have  to  spend  time 
in  instructing  the  pupils  in  the  technique  of  the 
materials  handled ;  they  acquire  that  in  the  public 
schools.  Let  the  teacher  get  a  working  under- 
standing of  the  principles  involved ;  let  her  realise 
this  is  not  for  play  or  amusement,  or  some  new 
fad ;  the  rest  will  be  easy.  Teacher  and  pupil  will 
be  learning  together,  and  all  can  do  this  work 


NECESSITY    OF    MANUAL   WORK     121 

because  its  very  purpose  necessitates  its  being 
within  the  reach  of  the  child,  and  therefore  of  the 
adult.  But  the  training  in  the  principles  involved 
should  be  part  of  the  regular  work  of  the  school; 
the  use  of  these  methods  and  their  underlying 
philosophy  will  be  part  of  the  required  work  in 
the  teacher-training  course  of  every  fully  equipped 
school. 

The  question  to  be  considered  before  adopting 
manual  methods  is,  Will  this  serve  the  purpose  of 
the  school?  No  intelligent  student  of  the  educa- 
tional process  can  give  any  other  than  an  affirma- 
tive answer,  and  there  will  be  no  question  but  that 
this  is  one  of  nature's  methods,  one  of  the  most 
effective  and  economical  and  that,  therefore,  the 
Sunday  school  must  adopt  it.  Then  follows  the 
duty  of  informing  ourselves  as  to  what  are  the 
great  principles  governing  this  method,  what  are 
the  means  of  its  introduction  and  maintenance, 
and  its  proper  place  in  the  whole  work  of  the 
school.  It  is  a  question  that  goes  beyond  the 
individual  teacher;  its  use  must  be  intelligently 
co-ordinated  through  the  whole  school,  and  the 
superintendent  and  officers  must  take  time  to  grasp 
its  principles  and  to  come  into  full  sympathy  with 
its  purposes. 

The  time  will  come  when  the  school  will  make 
a  larger  use  of  the  child's  play  activities ;  when  we, 
having  stopped  our  work  long  enough  to  under- 


122  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

stand  theirs,  will  cease  to  try  to  make  them  fit 
their  muscles  and  minds  to  our  ways,  and  will 
learn  that  if  we  are  to  teach  them,  if  we  would 
be  truly  pedagogs,  we  must  walk  in  their  ways. 
Then  the  school  will,  for  one  thing,  use  the  pupiFs 
dramatic  instinct.  We  will  be  able,  with  all  rev- 
erence and  with  large  educational  advantages,  to 
re-live  the  scenes  and  acts  of  sacred  story.  Note 
how  serious  is  the  child's  part  in  the  drama  he 
plays  when  he  thinks  himself  unobserved;  how 
quickly  he  invests  himself  with  the  best  charac- 
teristics of  his  character;  he  cannot  play  that  he 
is  a  great  man  without  acquiring  something  of 
greatness.  Wise  teachers  will  yet  find  the  way  to 
apply  the  wonderful  powers  for  good  that  lie  in 
the  child's  play  to  the  educational  purposes  of  the 
Sunday  school. 

V.  The  Wider  Application  of  the  Manual  Method. 
Eemembering  the  principles  underlying  the  use 
of  manual  method  and  having  in  mind  the  purpose 
of  the  school,  to  develop  Christian  character  and 
to  train  to  Christian  service,  it  will  be  evident  that 
the  method  has  a  wider  application  than  that  of 
constructing  maps  and  other  material  in  the  class. 
If  the  pupils  are  to  be  trained  for  Christian  serv- 
ice they  must  early  begin  to  do  that  service.  The 
practice  or  laboratory  method  must  be  used,  as 
far  as  possible,  in  the  school.  The  pupils  must 
be  given  ample  opportunity  to  give  expression  to 


TRAINING    FOR    SERVICE  123 

that  which  they  learn.  This  will  be  found,  first, 
in  the  work  of  the  school  itself.  The  service  a 
pupil  renders  by  way  of  work  as  usher,  assistant 
secretary,  sick  visitor,  monitor,  page,  musician  in 
the  orchestra,  while  worth  much  to  the  school 
means  even  more  to  him.  It  is  the  most  valuable 
part  of  his  religious  education.  Then  the  service 
must  go  outside  the  school;  the  Young  People's 
Society  affords  opportunity  for  much  useful  work ; 
its  activities  should  be  correlated  to  the  Sunday 
school,  so  that  it  becomes  a  part  of  the  practice 
work  of  the  school.  The  various  meetings  and 
organisations  of  the  church  all  may  be  brought 
into  this  relation,  so  that  the  Sunday-school  pupil 
becomes  the  trained  servant  of  the  church,  and  the 
school  is  not  a  separate  thing,  but  a  part  of  the 
whole  church,  carrying  on  its  educational  work 
through  all  its  agencies.  We  will  no  longer  hear 
the  complaint  that  there  is  a  lack  of  men  seeking 
the  ministry  if  the  pupils  begin  their  ministry 
with  their  studies  and  develop  it  naturally  with 
their  developing  lives;  this  also  will  be  true  in 
regard  to  all  the  offices  of  the  church.  The  pupils 
must  learn  by  doing,  entering  into  knowledge  by 
the  door  the  Master  pointed  out,  "  If  any  man 
willeth  to  do  His  will  he  shall  know  of  the  doc- 
trine." 


XIII 

THE  CUERICULUM  OF  THE  SCHOOL 

Even  a  superficial  acquaintance  with  the  problems 
of  the  curricula  of  the  Sunday  school  will  suggest 
that  the  subject  is  altogether  too  large  for  adequate 
treatment  in  one  chapter.  But  there  are  certain 
relations  which  it  holds  to  the  questions  of  Sunday- 
school  administration  which  must  be  briefly  con- 
sidered, and,  since  the  matter  of  curriculum  is 
one  of  the  most  influential  determining  factors 
in  school  management,  it  is  worth  while  to  review 
the  principles  underlying  the  proper  curriculum. 
For  it  makes  all  the  difference  whether  the  school 
be  organised  and  conducted  with  certain  definite 
purposes  in  relation  to  carefully  constructed 
courses  of  study  in  mind,  or  whether  it  be  allowed 
to  drift  into  loose  groupings  of  teaching  agencies 
about  incoherent  collections  of  lessons.  The  of- 
ficers of  the  school  are  responsible  for  making  the 
curriculum  the  best  possible  and  for  properly  pro- 
viding for  its  institution  and  conduct;  they  there- 
fore do  well  to  understand  its  principles. 

Some  Characteristics  of  the  Curriculum;   cer- 
tain features  which  will  be  found  in  the  course 

194 


BASIS    OF    CURRICULUM  125 

of  study  where  the  school  is  regarded  as  an  educa- 
tional institution. 

1.  The  Course  Will  be  Genetic.    That  is  to 
say,  it  will  be  built  upon  the  life  processes  and 
progress  of  the  learner.    It  will  be  chosen  with  the 
needs  peculiar  to  his  particular  stage  of  develop- 
ment in  mind.    It  will  be  adapted  to  the  child,  as 
well  adapted  to  him  at  seven  or  at  ten,  as  at  twenty, 
or  at  forty,  when  he  shall  be  a  man.     This  will 
mean  that  the  subjects  and  material  for  study  will 
be  arranged  into  the  same  grades  as  are  found  in 
the  school  itself,  each  grade  having  provided  for 
it  the  materials  suited  to  its  age  and  development. 
No  one  who  knows  the  Bible  and  who  knows  the 
boy  can  possibly  believe  that  the  material  suited 
to  the  class  of  mature  saints  over  in  the  "  heavenly 
rest "  corner  is  equally  well  suited  to  the  little  lads 
or  the  growing  youths  still  in  the  blessed  period 
of  earthly  unrest. 

The  course  will  especially  have  in  mind  and  be 
prepared  for  the  epochal  periods  in  the  developing 
life.  It  is  impossible  to  do  more  here  than  call 
attention  to  the  importance  of  the  period  of  ado- 
lescence, with  its  deep-reaching  physical  and 
psychical  changes,  with  its  epochs  of  determination 
and  of  unrest.  How  lamentably  is  the  school  fail- 
ing and  for  how  great  opportunities  must  she 
answer  if  she  neglects  to  meet  the  needs  of  this 
period,  if  she  goes  on  blindly  doling  out  grand- 


126  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

motherly  advice  and  sentiment  to  those  who  are 
feeling  the  full  throb,  the  unrest,  the  stress,  and 
strain  of  life's  awakening.  No  man  would  think 
of  managing  a  dairy  farm  without  some  clear, 
scientific  knowledge  of  milch  cattle;  and  shall  we 
think  that  the  knowledge  of  child  life  and  the 
power  to  develop  it  rightly  comes  by  intuition? 
It  is  a  happy  augury  for  the  Sunday  school  that 
so  much  trained  thought  is  being  given  to  this 
whole  question,  and  that  it  is  not  difficult  for 
those  who  really  desire  to  insure  the  effectiveness 
of  their  schools  to  learn  and  adapt  the  results  of 
the  studies  of  educational  leaders  and  experts. 

As  an  example  of  the  adaptation  of  the  course 
of  study  to  the  epochs  of  the  developing  life  it  is 
worth  while  to  note  the  importance  of  the  work 
done  by  the  pupils  during  the  years  from  fifteen 
to  seventeen  inclusive.  This  is  the  age  at  which 
the  greatest  number  of  conversions  are  recorded. 
It  is  also  the  age  at  which  the  personal  influence 
of  the  teacher  counts  for  most.  The  custom  has 
long  been  for  the  Sunday  school  to  regard  it  as 
the  hopeless  period,  when  youths  may  be  expected 
to  drift  from  the  school.  The  truth  is  that  the 
work  of  the  school  should  be  organised  with  this 
as  its  crowning  period ;  the  years  of  decision  should 
be  the  goal  of  the  work  going  before  and  the  start- 
ing point  for  the  larger  and  closer  work  to  follow. 
By  this  time  the  disciplines  gone  before  have  laid 


ADAPTATION    TO    LIFE    PERIODS   127 

the  general  mental  ground  of  the  knowledge  of 
religious  truth;  the  pupil  is  reflecting  on  its  sig- 
nificances to  him;  he  is  thinking  deeply,  strange 
as  it  may  seem  to  many,  on  the  questions  of  char- 
acter and  destiny.    It  is  the  business  of  the  school 
to  help  him  to  decide  aright.    Instead  of  paralysing 
the  will  power  and  rendering  insignificant  the  act 
of  determination  by  frequent,  and  at  last  mean- 
ingless "decision  days,"  in  which  the  least  tots 
who  have  no  conception  of  any  but  the  right  way, 
as  a  way,  as  well  as  those  who  may  meditate  de- 
cision are  urged  to  "  take  a  stand,"  let  the  school 
provide  for  a  decision  period,  or   determimtive 
grade,  not  calling  it  by  this  name,  but  arranging 
the  studies  so  that  the  pupil  is  at  the  time  of 
stress  and  determination  helped  and  guided  aright. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  pupils  should  be 
brought  close  to  the  glowing  ideals  of  Christian 
character  concrete  in  the  heroes  of  our  history; 
they  should  see  the  significances  and  glory  of  the 
Christian  way  of  living;  they  should  understand 
what  it  is  to  be  a  Christian,  and  also  what  is 
involved  in  church  membership;  they  should  now 
become   acquainted   with   the   institutions   of   the 
church  and  with  all  that  Christian  philanthropy 
and  service  signifies.     This  is  the  time  for  appli- 
cation,  action,   determination,    rather    than    for 
academic  or  elementary  studies  in  literature,  etc. 
To  meet  these  special  needs  the  school  must  make 


128  THE  MODERN-  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

full  provision,  not  only  in  the  material  for  study, 
but  also  in  the  teaching  force.  Here  the  strongest 
teachers  will  be  needed,  those  of  the  deepest  in- 
sight. The  pastor  certainly  ought  to  teach  one 
of  the  classes,  the  one  closest  to  church  member- 
ship ;  if  not  he,  then  some  other  person  who  would 
have  an  equal  interest  and  familiarity  in  the  rela- 
tion of  the  child  to  the  church. 

The  conscientious  officer  and  teacher  will  not 
be  satisfied  until  the  school  meets  in  a  thorough 
and  comprehensive  manner  the  real  needs  of  the 
pupils  in  every  grade  through  its  carefully  pre- 
pared course  of  study.  There  will  be  the  adapta- 
tion of  the  teaching  to  the  pupil's  life  as  well  as 
that  of  the  material  taught.  The  pupil  is  the 
absolutely  determining  factor  in  the  organisation 
of  the  school;  he  is  not  a  block  to  be  carved  and 
fitted  into  an  institution;  he  is  a  living  being 
whose  development  the  school  is  to  foster,  and 
that  process  of  development  can  only  be  fostered 
by  following  the  unvarying  laws  of  his  life. 

2.  The  Course  Will  be  Unitary.  That  is,  it 
will  be  organised  into  a  coherent  whole,  arranged 
so  that  the  pupil  passes,  in  going  from  grade  to 
grade,  in  an  orderly  and  logical  manner  through  all 
those  subjects  and  disciplines  which  go  to  make  up 
the  complete  curriculum,  the  work  which  goes  to 
fulfil  the  purpose  of  developing  his  character  and 
usefulness.     The  studies  which  he  meets  in  the 


BASIS    OF    CURRICULUM  129 

first  grade  of  the  elementary  school  will  require 
no  intellectual  leap  across  some  chasm  from  those 
with  which  he  was  familiar  in  the  kindergarten. 
And  so  with  each  grade;  there  will  be,  at  least 
in  the  grades  up  to  the  Senior,  no  independent 
studies;  all  will  be  related  to  each  other.  There 
will  be  a  definite  purpose  in  mind,  followed  out  in 
a  logical  manner,  involving  steady  progress  through 
related  studies  in  every  grade.  Once  a  curriculum 
of  this  character  is  adopted  for  the  whole  school, 
its  defects  remedied  under  experience,  and  its 
plan  understood  and  spirit  entered  into  by  the 
working  forces,  the  school  acquires  the  sense  of 
unity,  definiteness,  and  worthiness  in  its  work. 

The  course  of  study  in  the  Sunday  school  must 
be  unitary,  as  far  as  possible,  with  all  other  studies 
in  the  pupil's  life.  This  will  naturally  follow  so 
far  as  his  public  school  work  is  concerned  if  the 
course  is  graded  according  to  the  grades  of  the 
pupil's  development.  It  is  important,  however, 
in  mapping  out  the  course  of  study,  to  carefully 
consider  what  the  child  is  learning  through  five 
days  of  the  week,  in  order  that  with  the  least  effort 
and  the  largest  advantage  and  co-operation  he 
may  pass  over  to  his  studies  on  the  one  day. 
There  must  be  unity  also  with  every  other  study 
and  exercise  within  the  church  itself.  To-day, 
when  the  prayer-meeting  may  be  offering  a  definite 
course  of  lectures  and  the  Young  People's  Society 


130  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

is  almost  sure  to  have  several  courses  of  study  in 
operation,  it  is  of  first-rate  importance  that  all 
these,  and  any  other  educational  endeavours  in 
the  church,  be  properly  co-ordinated,  in  order  that 
no  work  may  be  duplicated,  nor  any  possible  prog- 
ress hindered  through  apparent  conflict  in  studies. 
A  growing  child  cannot,  without  serious  disadvant- 
age, carry  a  course  in  the  Wisdom  literature  under 
the  Young  People's  Society  along  with  a  course  in 
the  Pauline  epistles  in  the  Sunday  school.  There 
are  often,  however,  more  serious  burdens  than  this 
laid  upon  them  by  unthinking  zealots.  Let  the 
officers  in  the  various  organisations  come  together 
with  the  proper  officers  of  the  Sunday  school;  let 
all  together  constitute  the  educational  committee 
of  the  church;  let  this  committee  so  arrange  the 
various  studies  that  each  shall  help  the  other  and 
none  shall  hinder.  And,  since  the  Sunday  school 
is  the  educational  agency  of  the  church,  the  courses 
offered  by  other  departments  should  certainly  be 
based  on  its  curriculum. 

3.  The  Course  Must  be  Comprehensive.  Its 
purpose  should  be  "  that  the  man  of  God  may  be 
perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works." 
That  complete  training,  informing,  discipline,  and 
equipment  of  the  whole  life  cannot  be  obtained 
by  even  the  longest  exegetical  or  homiletical  study 
of  fragmentary  passages  from  the  Scriptures;  it 
cannot  be  acquired  in  the  Sunday  school  so  long 


EXTRA    BIBLICAL    STUDIES        131 

as  that  institution  is  regarded  and  conducted  as 
an  infantile  theological  seminary. 

It  is  evident  that  in  order  that  the  curriculum 
of  the  school  may  be  comprehensive  it  must  in- 
clude many  subjects  which  could  not  be  properly 
taught  in  the  course  of  the  usual  instruction  in 
the  Bible.  These  subjects  would  include  church 
history,  Christian  institutions,  evidences,  mis- 
sions, social  service,  practical  ethics,  and  Chris- 
tian biography.  The  reasons  for  what  are 
sometimes  called  "  extra-biblical "  studies  in  the 
Sunday  school  must  be  clearly  understood. 
Among  the  reasons  are :  such  studies  are  evi- 
dently necessary  to  full  equipment  for  life  and 
for  service;  these  studies  are  not  treated,  as  such, 
in  the  Bible,  nor  do  they  properly  grow  out  of 
the  study  of  the  Bible  from  the  view-point  of 
literature,  history,  or  doctrine.  This  is  most  evi- 
dent in  the  case  of  church  history;  but  it  may 
be  questioned  in  the  case  of  practical  ethics,  until 
examination  suggests  that  there  are  many  prob- 
lems in  practical  ethics  to-day  on  which  the  Bible 
has  nothing  directly  to  say,  for  while  it  does  give 
the  great  fundamental  principles,  it  does  not  de- 
velop their  application  to  conditions  which  have 
arisen  in  more  recent  times.  Again,  these  studies 
are  not  commonly  taken  in  any  other  institution; 
to  follow  them  in  the  Sunday  school  gives  unity, 
completeness,  and  a  unique  value  to  the  work  of 


132  THE  MODERX  SUXDAY  SCHOOL 

the  school,  and  gives  to  the  scliolar  adequate  de« 
velopment  in  knowledge  and  equipment  for  service. 

It  is  worth  while  to  note  that  in  an  important 
sense  these  studies  are  not  extra-biblical;  they 
are  the  normal  developments  in  our  times  of  the 
religious  life  and  spirit  portrayed  in  the  Bible; 
they  are  based  on  the  Bible,  and  are,  indeed,  es- 
sential to  a  full  understanding  of  its  content  and 
its  relation  to  our  life  to-day,  in  order  that  the 
Bible  may  not  appear  to  be  the  subject  of  recondite 
inquiry  alone,  but  may  be  vital  and  practical. 

As  generally  indicative  of  the  method  of  such 
studies  the  whole  question  of  the  teaching  of 
Missions  in  the  school  is  separately  considered  in 
Ch.  XIV.  It  is  important  that  the  authorities 
mapping  out  the  curriculum  of  the  school  appor- 
tion places  and  time  to  each  of  these  studies,  ac- 
cording to  the  principle  of  adaptation  to  the 
developing  life  of  the  pupils. 

There  is  given  below  an  outline  of  a  curriculum 
intended  only  to  be  suggestive  of  the  possible 
arrangement  of  all  subjects  with  the  developing 
life  and  the  peculiar  needs  of  the  pupil  in  mind. 
The  plan  contemplates  usually  the  use,  in  connec- 
tion with  each  specific  subject,  of  a  suitable  sepa- 
rate text-book.  This  would,  in  the  lower  grades,  be 
in  the  hands  of  the  teachers  only;  in  the  upper 
grades,  beginning  with  about  Grade  3,  in  the 
Elementary  Division,  the  text-book  would  be  used 


A    SUGGESTED    CURRICULUM      133 

by  the  pupil.  Of  course  for  that  and  the  next 
several  grades  the  book  would  be  relatively  simple, 
and  would  provide  for  much  written  and  manual 
work. 

As  an  example  of  the  application  of  this  "  text- 
book "  plan,  the  teacher  might  use,  in  the  Kinder- 
garten, "  Kindergarten  Stories  for  the  Home  and 
Sunday  School "  by  Miss  Cragin,  in  Elementary 
1,  "A  Year  of  Sunday-School  Lessons,^'  by  Flor- 
ence Palmer;  in  Secondary  3,  the  students  could 
use  "The  Old  Testament  and  Its  Contents,"  by 
Robertson ;  in  Secondary  4,  "  Studies  in  the  Gos- 
pel of  Mark,"  by  Burton.  Other  books  could  be 
used  in  any  of  these  subjects,  and  suitable  books 
can  be  found  for  any  grade.  Schools  with  unusual 
advantages  are,  in  some  places,  working  out  their 
own  text-books. 

AN  OUTLINE  OF  A  CURRICULUM, 
BY  SUBJECTS 

KINDEBGAETEN 

Religious  conceptions  moulded  by  stories,  games,  and 
exercises 

ELEMENTARY 

Grade  1.  Religious  conceptions  in  detail,  moulded  by 
stories,  manual  work,  memorizing  of  sim- 
ple passages, 
2.  Same  work,  with  greater  detail,  introduction 
of  biography,  memorizing  also  of  longer 
passages  and  short  hymns. 


134  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

3.  Old  Testament  narratives ;  into  tliis  may  be 

woven  geography  ;  using  manual  methods. 

4.  Life  of  Jesus,  following  plan  similar  to  grade 

3.     Make  picture-life  of  Jesus. 

5.  Lives  of  the  Apostles.     Use  the  travel  inter- 

est,    manual     methods,     collect     museum 
material. 

6.  A  general  introduction  to  the  Bible.  A  year's 

survey  of  the  whole,  using  the  Bible  freely. 
Use  manual  methods  freely. 

7.  (a)   Biography   in    the    Old   Testament;   be- 

ginning of  hero  study, 
(b)  Christian     biography,     beginning     with 
Jesus.    Have  pupils  work  on  the  heroes  of 
Christian  history  as  they  would  on  Wash- 
ington or  Lincoln. 

8.  Church  History,  beginning  with  the  "  Acts  " 

(first  half  of  year). 
Christian  Missions  (second  half  of  year). 

SECONDABY 

Grade  1.  Preparation  for  Church  Membership. 

1st  half :  The  Christian  life  ;  develop,  in  part, 
by  biographical  studies, 

2nd  half :  Christian  Service ;  lead  to  enthu- 
siasm for  service  in  the  Church. 

Keep  in  mind  that  these  are  the  "  decision 
years." 

2.  (a)  Christian  Institutions. 

(&)  Denominational  life  and  Polity. 

3.  Old  Testament  Literature. 

4.  New  Testament  Literature. 

BENIOB 

Grade  1.  Historical  Study  of  Biblical  Literature. 
2.  Advanced  Life  of  Christ. 


A  SUGGESTED  CURRICULUM   135 

3.  (a)  Christian  Evidences. 

(b)  Christian  Doctrines. 

(c)  Practical  Ethics. 

4.  (a)  Practical  Christianity,  Social  Service. 
(&)  Missions,  Comparative  Religions. 

TEACHEES 

Grade  1.  Child  Study. 

2.  Religious  l*edagogy. 

3.  Sunday-School    Organisation    and    Manage- 

ment. 

4.  Advanced  Biblical  Introduction. 

The  approximate  age  for  each  grade  is  shown  in  the 
chart  of  the  Graded  School  on  page  68.     // 


XlVi 

THE  TEACHING  OF  MISSION'S 

A  CONFERENCE  of  representative  religions  edu- 
cators was  called  by  the  Young  People's  Mission- 
ary Movement,  at  Silver  Bay,  N.  Y.,  on  July 
17-19,  1906,  to  consider  the  questions  relating  to 
the  teaching  of  Missions  in  the  Sunday  school. 
That  conference,  which  by  its  very  call  admitted 
that,  although  the  religion  of  Jesus  is  essentially 
missionary,  the  teaching  agency  of  the  church  had 
neglected  this  aspect  of  its  character  and  work, 
was  decidedly  epochal,  marking  also  the  beginning 
of  new  efficiency  for  the  Sunday  school.  The  fol- 
lowing statement  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the 
representatives  present : 

"1.  Missionary  instruction  is  an  essential  part 
of  religious  education  and  should  he  included  in 
the  curriculum  of  every  Sunday  school. 

"1.  By  the  missionary  treatment  of  such  lessons 
of  the  International  or  other  series  as  are  clearly 
missionary  in  spirit  or  content. 

"  2.  By  the  frequent  use  of  missionary  illustra- 
tions in  Sunday-school  instruction. 

"3.  By  the  use  of  supplemental  graded  or  un- 
graded lessons. 

"  4.    By  the  regular  or  occasional  use  of  care- 

136 


TEACIimG   MISSIONS  137 

fully  planned  missionary  programs  as  closing  ex- 
ercises for  the  school. 

"  5.  By  the  organisation  of  mission  study  classes 
to  meet  special  needs  in  the  various  departments 
of  the  school. 

''11.  A  missionary  atmosphere  should  he  cre^ 
ated  in  the  Sunday  school  through  its  worship. 

"  1.  By  the  occasional  selection  for  the  opening 
exercises  of  passages  of  Scripture  bearing  directly 
upon  missions. 

"  2.  By  missionary  petitions  in  public  prayer. 
"  3.  By  the  use  of  missionary  psalms  and  hymns. 
"4.  By   the   cultivation   among   the   pupils   of 
habits  of  systematic,  proportionate  and  individual 
giving  to  missionary  objects. 

''III.  The  agencies  directly  or  indirectly  af- 
fecting  the  Sunday  school  should  co-operate  to 
develop  the  missionary  spirit." 

(Here  are  mentioned  the  International  Lesson 
Committee,  denominational  boards,  State  Sunday- 
school  Associations,  theological  seminaries,  the 
press,  summer  conferences  and  institutes  and 
Young  People's  Missionary  Movement.) 

Throudi  this  conference  and  the  issuance  of 
this  statement  the  matter  has  been  brought  before 
the  Sunday  schools.  Several  important  questions 
follow. 

1.  Why  teach  Missions  in  the  Sunday  school? 
Partly  for  the  same  reasons  that  apply  to  all  so- 


138  THE  MODERN"  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

called  extra-biblical  subjects,  as  given  in  the  chap- 
ter preceding;  particularly  because  the  scholar 
needs  for  his  own  religious  development  in  char- 
acter and  efiSciency,  wide  knowledge  of  and  fre- 
quent participation  in  this  important  and  essential 
part  of  Christian  service;  also,  because  missionary 
endeavour  must  be  maintained;  it  must  be  main- 
tained by  intelligent,  generous  gifts  and  work;  the 
future  givers  and  workers  are  in  the  Sunday 
school,  and  their  training  to  investment  and  co- 
operation must  begin  early,  must  continue  right 
along,  and  must  be  of  the  nature  of  service  as  far 
as  possible,  as  well  as  study.  In  a  word,  the 
fundamental  principles  of  missions  being  essential 
to  the  full  Christian  life,  they  must  have  a  definite 
place  in  the  work  of  the  institution  devoted  to  the 
development  of  that  life. 

2.  In  what  shall  the  teaching  of  missions  con- 
sist?  In  leading  the  pupil  to  intelligent  familiar- 
ity with  the  philosophy  or  principles  of  missions, 
and  to  acquaintance  with  the  past  history,  the 
present  extent,  significance,  social  value,  and  prog- 
ress of  this  form  of  service.  The  studies  should 
be  with  a  view  to  quickening  the  interests,  sym- 
pathies, and  creating  enthusiasm,  based  on  in- 
formation. The  school  should  not  only  tell  about 
missions,  nor  only  show  objects  of  missionary  in- 
terest; it  should  engage  in  missions,  its  teachings 
should  be  by  the  practical  and  laboratory  methods ; 


TEACIimG    MISSIONS  130 

it  should  train  the  future  missionaries,  not  that 
every  pupil  will  devote  his  whole  life  to  field  work, 
but  that  everyone  may  consecrate  himself  to  the 
extension  of  the  Master's  kingdom,  so  that,  in 
this  most  important  sense,  all  may  become  true 
missionaries. 

3.   How  shall  the  school  teach  Missions? 
(a)  The  Agencies  Employed:    The  regular 
organisation  of  the  school,  directed  by  the  Superin- 
tendent, who  clearly  understands  and  enters  into 
this  work,  inspired  by  the  pastor,  finding  specific 
direction  and  assistance  in  a  special  committee  on 
^niissionary  work  and  instruction,"  co-operating 
with  any  special  societies  in  the  church,  such  as  the 
Woman's  Missionary  Society,  and  keeping  in  close 
touch  with  the  denominational  missionary  boards 
or  societies.     The  superintendent  will  find  this  a 
wonderfully  rich,  interesting  and  helpful  field    if 
he  begins  to  plan  to  make  his  Sunday  school  truly 
a  missionary  training  school;  the  teacher  will  find 
a  wealth  of  literature  at  hand  and  a  surprising 
response  of  enthusiasm  and  interest  on  the  part  of 

the  scholars. 

(h)  The  Means  Employed:  First,  teaching. 
Definite  courses,  properly  fitted  into  the  curric- 
ulum, covering  definite  periods,  as  three  or  six 
months,  beginning  with  biographies  and  later 
taking  hero  studies,  then  the  romance  and  the 
service  of  missions,  then  the   study  of  mission 


140  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

fields,  missionary  problems,  support,  schools, 
special  work,  etc.;  adults  might  very  well  take 
a  course  in  "  Comparative  Modern  Eeligions." 
Another,  though  less  valuable  method,  would  be 
the  introduction  of  occasional  missionary  lessons. 
(See  on  this  the  recommendations  of  the  confer- 
ence cited  above.)  The  important  thing  is  the 
maintenance  of  the  missionary  spirit  and  the  train- 
ing in  intelligent  missionary  support  and  service. 
The  school  must  not  neglect  its  own  opportunities 
to  teach  by  service.  This  may  be  done  through  the 
regular  systematic  giving  to  the  support  of  mis- 
sions, preferably  devoting  a  certain  proportion  of 
the  regular  offerings,  rather  than  making  spas- 
modic appeals  for  special  missionary  objects.  But 
it  must  be  done  also,  and  even  more  largely, 
through  actual  missionary  work.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  emphasise  the  fact  that  missions  includes  every 
effort  to  bring  men  into  the  Kingdom,  and  to  bring 
the  Kingdom  to  this  earth,  whether  the  effort  be 
directed  to  the  man  next  door  or  the  man  in 
Manchuria.  Therefore,  the  Sunday  school  may 
do  important  missionary  work  in  its  own  neigh- 
bourhood in  caring  for  the  poor,  educating  the 
ignorant,  improving  the  social  and  physical  con- 
ditions in  the  city,  preaching  the  Gospel,  personally 
reaching  and  winning  the  unreached. 

Second^  another  means  will  be  hi/  special  pro- 
grams  and  services,  in  the  opening  exercises,  in 
missionary  concerts,  in  addresses  by  missionaries 


TEACHIISrG    MISSIONS  141 

and  others,  and  in  lectures,  illustrated  by  the 
stereopticon,  given  in  the  week.  Here  also  is  an 
opportunity  to  use  the  child's  dramatic  instincts; 
they  may  be,  indeed,  they  will  be,  delighted  to  give 
little  "  plays,''  dramatic  representations  of  life  in 
other  lands,  or  among  the  Indians  in  our  own 
land.  The  costumes,  setting  and  dialogue  will  all 
serve  to  teach  the  desired  lessons  in  a  manner 
much  more  lasting  than  mere  lecturing  could 
possibly  be. 

Third,  hy  the  circulation  of  missionary  litera- 
ture. The  missionary  committee  should  select  and 
suggest  to  the  library  committee  the  names  of 
proper  books  on  travel,  foreign  lands,  home  affairs 
and  missionary  interests  and  work.  There  is 
such  a  wealth  of  good,  live,  well-written  books  on 
these  subjects  that  no  child  ought  to  have  to  com- 
plain of  missions  as  dry  reading.  Let  the  librarian 
call  special  attention  to  the  new  books  on  this  sub- 
ject; occasionally  brief,  lively  extracts  might  be 
read  in  the  closing  exercises  of  the  department. 
Circulate  missionary  magazines  and  secure  letters 
from  the  men  and  women  who  are  right  in  the 
work;  watch  for  the  items  of  interest  regarding 
the  field,  either  at  home  or  abroad,  in  the  daily 
newspapers,  and  read  them  to  your  class,  or  to  the 
school. 

Fourth,  "by  an  Exhibit  or  Museum,  containing 
maps,  native  costumes,  models  of  houses,  imple- 
ments, weapons,   etc.,  pictures  and  photographs, 


142  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL   " 

anything  that  will  serve  to  make  missions  real  and 
fascinating  through  the  medium  of  the  eye. 

Fifth,  hy  organisation.  Groups  of  pupils  may 
be  organised  into  bands  around  some  central  in- 
terest, such  as  a  particular  field  or  even  the  sup- 
port of  some  native  helper.  There  may  be  objec- 
tions to  this  personal-interest  element;  but  it  is 
better  to  be  thoroughly  interested  in  one  man  or 
one  place  than  to  have  your  interest  in  all  so  thin 
that  it  cannot  reach  any. 

Missions  in  the  Sunday  school  afford  an  easy 
and  practical  opportunity  for  developing  the 
school,  not  only  as  an  institution  for  instruction, 
but  as  a  truly  educational  agency.  In  fact  the 
subject  becomes  of  relatively  little  value  if  it  be 
treated  in  an  entirely  academic  manner,  and  not 
at  all  in  the  practical  one.  There  is  afforded  the 
school  the  opportunity  to  interest  the  pupil  and 
enlist  his  whole  self  in  this  in  the  same  manner 
and  to  the  same  extent  that  he  enters  into  the  work 
of  the  public  school  when  he  studies  the  American 
Indian,  or  the  Pilgrims,  or  the  course  of  the  flag 
to-day.  He  can  be  as  patriotic  for  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  as  for  the  Eepublic;  he  can  enter  into 
the  lofty  enthusiasms  that  make  the  one  mean  so 
much  more  than  even  the  other,  and  these  en- 
thusiasms are  the  forces  that  determine  his  char- 
acter. 


XVi 

DISCIPLINE 

Why  is  it  that  in  an  age  when  none  would  claim 
that  children  are  becoming  liiore  reverent  or 
orderly,  we  hear  much  less  of  the  problem  of  Sun- 
day-school discipline  ?  Once  we  were  told  at  every 
gathering  of  teachers  that  it  was  the  greatest  of 
problems  in  the  school.  Is  it  not  because  we  have 
gone  beneath  the  surface  of  this  problem  to  its 
roots  ?  We  have  realised  that  it  was  the  poor  school 
that  made  the  bad  boy.  We  have  learned  that  you 
cannot  discipline  by  rods  and  rules.  So  far  as 
the  individual  is  concerned,  a  well-ordered,  worth- 
while school  will  mean  an  orderly  pupil.  The 
problem  of  discipline  is  not  the  problem  of  how 
to  handle  rough  characters,  how  best  to  carry  out 
a  kicking  boy  in  one  hand  and  your  Bible  in  the 
other.  It  is  the  problem  of  an  organisation  and 
a  body,  rather  than  of  individuals. 

I.   What  is  Discipline  ? 

Discipline  in  the  Sunday  school  means  the  main- 
tenance of  good  order,  proper  adjustments  and  co- 
operation through  all  the  activities  of  the  school; 

143 


144  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

it  means  every  factor,  the  grades,  the  class,  the  in- 
dividuals, harmoniously  working  together,  with 
such  a  sense  of  unity  and  common  purpose  that 
confusion  is  absent,  noise  is  reduced  to  a  minimum 
and  friction  is  unknown. 

Discipline  has  an  educational  purpose;  it  is 
simply  disciple-ing.  We  seek  order,  not  alone  that 
we  older  folks  like  quiet,  nor  alone  that  the  quiet  is 
necessary  to  the  teaching  of  a  lesson ;  we  seek  order 
that  the  pupils  may  be  trained  in  orderliness,  in 
the  laws  of  social  adjustments,  in  self-control,  in 
patience  and  meekness,  in  ability  to  co-operate 
with  others,  in  reverence. 

II.  Conditions  of  Disorder 

The  things  that  break  down  the  teaching  power 
of  the  school  in  this  direction  are  of  two  sorts. 
First,  failures  on  the  part  of  the  management, 
and,  second,  breaches  of  ordinary  good  manners 
on  the  part  of  individuals. 

In  the  first  list  we  find  the  failure  to  provide 
a  scheme  or  schedule  for  the  school,  to  either  work 
out  its  plan  or  to  determine  its  program ;  the  habit 
of  beginning  late  and  running  behind  time;  per- 
mitting officers  and  servants  of  the  school  to  rush 
about  the  room,  to  cause  distracting  noises,  such  as 
arranging  chairs,  etc.,  after  school  has  opened; 
classes  so  close  that  teaching  seems  to  all  a 
pandemonium;  disorderly  dismissal  and  exit. 


CAUSES    OF    DISORDER  115 

In  the  second  group  we  find:  coming  late — a 
mere  habit, — loitering  in  vestibules,  church  con- 
gregation gossiping  after  school  has  begun;  non- 
participation  of  teachers  in  exercises;  general 
conversation;    intentional  rudeness  or  rebellion. 

in.    The  Causes 

There  are  Definite  Causes  for  These  Con- 
ditions. They  are :  ( 1 )  A  lack  of  respect  for  the 
institution  itself — even  then  it  often  gets  all  it  de- 
serves. You  cannot  create  that  subtle  school  spirit 
that  makes  a  hundred  or  more  one  body,  smoothly 
working  together,  unless  it  has  some  object  worthy 
of  its  respect.  (2)  Officers  and  teachers  do  not  ex- 
pect good  order;  they  have  made  up  their  minds 
that  all  pupils  are  depraved — except  a  few  fa- 
vourites. Pupils  will  be  what  you  expect  them  to 
be.  Officers  have  set  up  no  standard,  no  ideal  for 
the  school.  (3)  Officers,  etc.,  do  not  themselves 
set  example  of  good  order;  they  are  anarchistic 
so  far  as  the  school  is  concerned;  they  come  late 
and  do  as  they  please  when  there.  A  loafing  officer 
is  worse  than  a  prancing  pupil.  (4)  Distracting 
interruptions  are  permitted,  from  late  comers, 
visitors,  in  classes  from  officers.  (5)  The  hour 
sometimes  is  in  part  to  blame;  if,  after  church, 
many  are  quite  tired;  in  afternoon,  many  are 
sleepy — owing  to  the  great  American  Sunday  din- 
ner— or  they  are  sighing  for  the  out-door  sun- 


146  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

shine  and  fresh  air.  (6)  Long,  monotonous  pro- 
grams, giving  pupils  no  chance  to  work  off  their 
energy,  or  to  co-operate  in  any  way;  thin  speeches 
which  are  always  long.  (7)  By  no  means  the 
smallest  cause,  dark,  damp,  overheated,  or  illy- 
ventilated  rooms. 

Some  people  seem  to  think  that  the  school  has 
discharged  its  full  duty  if  in  some  way  it  has 
brought  the  children  within  hearing  of  the  Gospel. 
Confronted  with  the  confusion  of  the  school,  they 
regard  it  as  an  incurable  trait  of  childhood,  one 
with  which  they  are  little  concerned  so  long  as  they 
faithfully  declare  to  these  restless  imps  the  word 
of  life.  But  to  declare  the  truth  to  ears  inatten- 
tive, in  conditions  of  confusion,  shows  a  lack  of 
respect  for  the  truth.  The  fact  is,  we  have  a 
larger  business  in  the  school  than  the  declaration 
of  truth  in  so  many  phrases ;  we  have  to  transform 
truth  into  character.  The  school  that  permits  con- 
fusion to  reign  becomes  an  agency  educating  in 
contempt  of  authority,  in  habits  of  irreverence  and 
disorder;  it  is  actually  making  criminals  in  so  far 
as  it  fails  to  help  pupils  to  live  aright  as  members 
of  their  community — for  the  time  being  the  Sun- 
day school — and  by  its  silence  seems  to  condone 
anarchy  and  absolute  disregard  for  the  rights  of 
others. 

Church  services  soon  feel  the  contact  of  a  dis- 
orderly school;  just  as  a  well-organised  Sunday 


SECURING    GOOD    OEDER  147 

school  soon  feels  it  if  the  church  is  in  its  services 
lacking  in  reverence  and  order, 

IV.  Conditions  of  Good  Order 

There  are  certain  simple  conditions  of  good 
order:  Discipline  is  essentially  a  simple  matter 
of  atmosphere  and  environment.  Boys  will  stamp 
and  shout  in  a  barn  as  they  will  not  think  of  doing 
in  a  parlour — ^unless  the  parlour  looks  and  feels 
like  a  barn.  If  your  school  looks  like  a  warehouse 
and  you  feel  like  a  barrel,  do  not  be  surprised  if 
the  boys  jump  all  over  you.     Therefore : 

1.  Study  Carefully  all  the  Conditions 
That  Will  Affect  the  Pupil. 

(a)  The  order  of  the  officers  and  teachers,  and 
their  demeanour.  Let  everyone  be  in  his  place 
before  school  opens;  everyone  awake;  everyone 
at  his  best  in  disposition  and  in  service. 

(h)  Secure  best  physical  conditions.  Do  not 
rest  till  you  have  proper  kind  of  rooms,  good  light, 
pure  air,  pleasant  surroundings,  good  pictures, 
decorations;  rooms  rightly  arranged  and  classes 
rightly  arranged  in  relation  one  to  another;  have 
room,  seats,  books,  etc.,  all  ready  before  hour  to 
begin. 

(c)  Promote  order  through  the  program.  Let 
its  conduct  and  its  content  all  help  by  example 
and  by  precept,  by  sustained  interest  and  by  en- 
listment of  activities. 


148  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

(d)  Co-operate  with  pupils'  activities.  Don't 
repress  them ;  let  them  express  themselves,  but  see 
they  do  it  in  your  way.  Better  to  say  to  a  child, 
"  Walk  to  the  right,"  than  to  say,  "  Don't  walk  to 
the  left."  The  Sunday  school  should  keep  all  so 
busy  they  have  no  time  to  think  up  mischief,  nor 
energy  to  expend  on  it.  Boys  and  girls,  live  ones, 
never  will  sit  still  like  tombstones.  The  secret  of 
order  is  not  in  sitting  still,  but  in  all  moving  in 
harmony.  The  "  hear-a-pin-drop "  school  is  far 
from  the  ideal. 

2.  Study  the  Pupil  Himself.  Do  not  try  to 
handle  and  govern  material  you  do  not  understand. 
Do  not  think  because  you  were  once  a  boy  that  you 
know  all  about  boys.  Study  child-nature;  study 
individual  temperaments.  Study  types  of  chil- 
dren. The  more  you  think  of  the  boy,  the  less  you 
will  think  of  discipline,  and  the  nearer  you  will 
come  to  having  it.  Under  all  circumstances  keep 
your  faith  in  the  pupils.  Their  tastes  may  be 
very  different  from  yours,  that  is,  yours  now;  they 
may  love  mice  and  bugs ;  they  may  adore  gum  and 
follies ;  but  they  are  made  in  His  likeness ;  they  are 
His  children;  they  belong  to  God,  for  they  have 
infinite  and  divine  potentialities.  Keep  your  eye 
on  the  good  in  them  and  it  is  wonderful  how  it 
will  grow. 

3.  Study  the  Problem  in  the  Class.  The 
solution  lies  in  the  class  in  part ;  if  every  class  is  in 


THE    TEACHEE   AS    A    FACTOPt     149 

order,  the  whole  school  will  be.  Let  the  teacher 
then  learn  what  discipline  means.  This  will 
mean,  not  a  study  of  the  art  of  compelling  silence, 
but  of  the  art  of  winning  interest  and  directing 
activity,  that  is  the  art  of  teaching.  Eeally  teach 
and  you  will  have  little  trouble.  Study  the  child. 
Learn  to  distinguish  temperaments.  Arrange  in 
class  accordingly;  plajce  the  active,  restless  ones 
nearest  you,  the  tricky,  slow,  subtle  directly  under 
your  eye;  then  teach.  Don't  talk  about  order; 
don't  beg  or  whine  for  it ;  do  not  say,  "  I  will  be 
obeyed,"  for  you  will  not;  you  have  invited  them 
to  a  contest  of  wills.  Say  nothing,  but  keep  them 
busy,  working  together. 

The  teacher  is  personally  a  factor  in  discipline. 
He  cannot — and  the  same  is  true  of  the  superin- 
tendents or  directors — they  cannot  expect  harmony 
when  they  are  torn  within  with  conflicting  emo- 
tions or  with  physical  distresses.  The  rich  Sun- 
day dinner  makes  a  poor  Sunday  school  in  the 
afternoon.  Come  in  good  health  and  humour. 
Stay  awake  and  keep  sweet.  Don't  scold;  it  acts 
the  same  as  soda  thrown  into  boiling  soup. 

Yet  there  will  remain  the  prohlem  of  the  hoy  or 
girl  who  seems  determined  to  disturb.  Make  a 
special  study  of  that  one;  discover  the  causes  of 
his  aberrations.  With  tact  and  sympathy  try  to 
think  of  it  as  a  disease  that  you  are  to  cure.  Some- 
times it  is  possible  to  take  such  an  one  into  a  very 


150  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

small  class,  in  separate  room,  so  that  the  motive 
of  display,  the  attraction  of  an  audience  is  missing. 
Let  teacher  study  "  case  '^  there.  Seek  the  door  of 
friendship;  that  of  force  will  never  open  to  you. 
There  is,  somewhere,  a  button  on  every  bad  boy; 
it  may  be  rabbits,  it  may  be  pegtops,  it  may  be 
his  mother;  your  business  is  to  find  it. 

The  motor  type  of  mischievous  boy,  the  restless 
dynamo  of  disturbance,  can  usually  be  reached  by 
securing  the  co-operation  of  his  hands,  his  eyes,  or 
almost  any  of  his  senses,  except  his  ears.  Put  him 
to  work,  writing,  drawing,  modelling,  moulding, 
building,  or  helping  in  class  work. 

The  sensory  type,  the  boy  who  sits  still  and 
slowly  works  up  a  revolution,  is  harder  to  reach. 
Yet  he  is  usually  proud  of  his  mental  ability  and 
delighted  if  you  will  set  him  a  problem,  or  give  him 
something  to  seek.  Put  him  on  his  mettle  and 
keep  his  mind  occupied. 

In  all  problems  of  discipline  it  is  well  to  re- 
member that  you  cannot  afford  to  sacrifice  the 
whole  school  or  division  for  the  sake  of  one  in- 
dividual. 


XVI 

GIVING  AND  FINANCES 

The  custom  of  taking  an  offering  in  the  classes  in 
the  Sunday  school  has  a  more  important  basis 
than  the  mere  attempt  to  imitate  the  usages  of  the 
church  gathering.     There  are  good 

I.  Reasons  for  Taking  Offerings 

The  act  has  educational  purposes.  It  is  not  a 
tax,  and  there  is  never  need  to  apologise  for  it, 
provided  it  be  properly  done.  It  trains  the  pupils, 
whom  the  school  is  educating  into  Christian  char- 
acter and  service,  in  a  definite  Christian  duty,  that 
of  the  specific  dedication  of  a  part  of  his  posses- 
sions to  the  service  of  God,  the  highly  important 
duty  of  co-operating  in  the  maintenance  of  reli- 
gious institutions.  Churches  are  to-day  financially 
embarrassed  because  their  people  have  never 
learned  to  give;  when  they  have  come  up  out  of 
Sunday  schools,  the  schools  did  no  more  than  per- 
functorily collect  the  pennies  which  the  children 
begged  from  their  parents.  You  cannot  educate  a 
church  to  giving  by  training  it  on  penny  offerings. 
The  Sunday  school  must  train  the  church  of  the 

131 


152  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

future  in  the  duty  and  delight  of  true  giving;  it 
must  ground  the  child  in  the  principles,  and  train 
him  in  right  motives.  The  act  of  rightly  taking 
an  offering  is  also  training  in  the  giving  char- 
acter. The  habit  of  giving  is  as  hard  to  break  as 
that  of  withholding.  Besides  this,  the  child  who 
gives  to  the  support  of  his  own  school  is  early 
learning  that  he  must  pay  for  the  things  he  gets 
in  this  world.  The  Gospel  may  be  free,  but  some 
one  must  pay  for  the  means  by  which  it  reaches 
us  and  goes  to  others.  To  allow  a  child  to  take  all 
that  the  school  may  offer,  either  in  instruction  or 
in  literature,  without  thought  of  having  a  duty 
himself  relative  thereto,  or  a  share  in  providing 
what  is  furnished,  is  to  inculcate  pauperism.  To 
object  that  the  child  in  the  public  school  receives 
without  giving  is  no  answer;  it  is  the  business  of 
the  public  school  to  reduce  to  the  minimum  the 
dependence  of  the  pupils  and  to  make  them  see 
that  public  education  is  not  a  charity,  but  a  social 
duty. 

II.  MetJiods  of  Taking  Offering 

Magnify  Its  Place  in  the  School.  Not  so  as 
to  make  the  pupils  feel  that  it  is  of  first  importance, 
but  so  that  they  may  know  it  is  a  part  of  school 
work,  not  at  all  something  for  which  we  need  to 
apologise,  or  which  we  feel  compelled  to  hide  in 
a  corner.    Magnify  it  in  the  class.    Distinguish 


EDUCATIONAL   GIVraG  153 

alwa5^s  between  emphasis  on  the  amount  given,  and 
on  the  fact  of  giving.  Do  not  talk  about  totals, 
dollars,  drawing  comparisons  between  the  sums 
given  in  different  classes.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
dollars;  it  is  a  question  of  cultivating  a  spirit 
and  habit  of  giving.  Beware  of  creating  money 
rivalries  between  classes,  and  also  between  in- 
dividuals in  the  class;  they  but  result  in  feelings 
of  shame  and  mortification  on  the  part  of  those 
who  can  give  but  little,  and,  what  is  more  regret- 
able,  in  boasting  and  pernicious  pride  on  the  part 
of  those  who  have  plenty. 

A  Carefully  Kept  Eecord  in  class  book,  or  by 
whatever  system  is  used,  of  the  fact  of  the  scholar 
giving,  not  the  amount  given ;  the  fact  of  the  num- 
ber of  givers  is  the  important  thing.  Let  class 
records  be  kept  with  utmost  scrupulosity ;  give  first 
lessons  here  in  right  handling  of  money.  Let  your 
attitude  be  that  this  giving  is  part  of  the  discharge 
of  a  high  responsibility  toward  God  and  toward 
our  fellows. 

Teach  Pupils  to  Give  Intelligently.  Do 
not  ask  them  to  sacrifice  for  things  of  which  they 
know  nothing.  Base  appeals,  when  they  must  be 
made,  not  on  the  emotions  primarily,  but  on  thd 
emotions  stirred  by  exact  knowledge.  It  is  better  to 
give  a  dime  to  the  wise  alleviation  of  a  need  intelli- 
gently apprehended  than  a  dollar  on  some  blind 
impulse.    Do  not  crush  the  impulses ;  direct  them. 


154  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

The  Sunday  school  has  a  sacred  duty  to  inform  its 
pupils  on  Missions,  for  example,  before  it  asks  for 
an  offering  for  missions.  Part  of  the  Sunday- 
school  course  of  study  should  be  constructed  so  to 
cover  the  great  enterprises  of  the  church  and  the 
principles  of  Christian  stewardship  that  it  will 
train  those  who  are  to  be  church  members  to  in- 
telligent giving  and  service. 

Train  the  Pupils  to  Give  in  Fact,  as  well  as 
in  form,  that  is,  to  give  that  which  really  belongs  to 
them.  We  ought  to  co-operate  with  parents  in  an 
effort  to  break  up  the  almost  universal  habit  of 
the  children  acting  as  proxies  for  the  parent's 
penny  gifts.  The  custom  usually  is  for  the  child 
to  beg  a  penny  or  two  of  father  or  mother  just  be- 
fore starting  to  Sunday  school.  That  makes  the 
child  only  a  messenger  or  agent  for  the  parents. 
Let  the  children  have  their  own  money;  let  them 
decide  on  the  proportion  they  will  give  to  church 
and  to  school;  let  them  give  their  own.  Parents 
had  better  let  them  go  without  an  offering  than 
simply  go  through  the  form  of  sending  their 
money  to  the  school. 

Train  the  Pupils  to  Give  Reverently.  The 
careful  record  of  giving,  the  intelligence  as  to  the 
objects  of  giving  and  the  practice  of  giving  their 
own,  all  contribute  toward  reverence  in  the  act. 
Then  it  may  be  made  of  itself  an  act  of  worship  in 
the  class.     We  must,  even  at  the  cost  of  stale 


METHODS    IN    GIVING 


15i 


jokes  and  cheap  wit,  steadily  avoid  the  joking  atti- 
tude toward  the  offering.  It  is  often  well  to  have 
a  brief  prayer  in  the  class  before  the  offering  is 
taken.  Sometimes  worth  while  to  speak  a  word 
on  the  subject  of  the  grace  of  giving,  or  on  our 
share  in  God's  work.  Then,  at  the  close  of  the 
session,  all  the  offerings  of  the  division  can  be 
taken  to  the  principal's  desk  and,  the  school  stand- 
ing, a  prayer  of  dedication  be  offered. 

The  use   of  the   envelope   shown   here    serves 
several   excellent  purposes.     Each  pupil   receives 


THE    BIBLE    SCHOOL 
The  First  Baptist  Church,  Dillon,  Montana 

"All  things  are  thine,  and  of  thine  own  have  we  given  thee" 
HAVE  YOU? 


An  Offering? 


Attended  Church? 


Brought  Bible? 


Name 


May  12,  1907 


No.  17 


every  quarter  a  package  of  thirteen  of  the  en- 
velopes, all  bearing  his  number,  and  each  dated  for 
successive  Sundays.  On  each  Sunday  he  brings 
one  to  the  school,  placing  his  offering  therein,  and 
checking  in  the  squares  his  answer  to  the  questions 


156  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

on  the  face  of  the  envelope.  He  places  this,  witH 
his  Home  Study  sheet,  in  the  class  box  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  lesson  period.  The  teacher  does 
not  need  to  ask  him  a  question  as  to  his  record, 
neither  does  the  teacher  attempt  to  mark  the  record 
until  the  close  of  the  school.  Then  the  secretary 
brings  to  the  teacher  the  class  box,  and  from  the 
envelopes  and  the  Home  Study  sheets  the  teacher 
makes  up  the  record,  after  the  school  has  dis- 
missed. It  will  be  seen  that  this  method  places 
the  marking  practically  in  the  hands  of  the 
scholar;  he  is  thrown  on  his  honour  to  mark  the 
envelope  accurately.  In  actual  test,  running  over 
several  years,  no  instance  was  found  of  a  pupil 
misrepresenting  the  facts,  while  the  moral  influ- 
ence of  the  system  was  excellent.  A  further  ad- 
vantage lies  in  the  fact  that  it  eliminates  from  the 
class  period  the  counting  of  noses  and  the  asking 
of  questions  of  the  pupils  regarding  their  records. 

///.   The  Use  of  the  Offering 

Be  sure  that  the  pupils  are  kept  informed  as  to 
the  use  that  is  being  made  of  the  money  received 
from  them. 

Support  the  Work  of  the  School.  The  school 
should  not  have  to  depend  wholly  on  the  gifts  of 
its  scholars;  the  church  must  bear  a  large  share 
in  this,  her  own  work.  The  Sunday  school  has  a 
definite  place  in  every  wise  church  budget.    The 


THE    USE    OF    THE    OFFERmO     157 

average  church,  liowever,  is  likely  to  pay  fifty  times 
as  much  "  to  make  one  proselyte/'  or  to  save  one 
sin-spent  sinner,  as  it  invests  in  keeping  for  the 
kingdom  those,  the  children,  who  already  belong 
to  it  by  every  right,  and  whose  young  full  lives 
would  be  worth,  in  energy  and  service,  ten  times 
the  lives  of  those  who  have  given  their  best  years 
to  sin.  But,  while  the  school  must  feel  that  it  has 
the  full  support  of  the  church,  it  needs  also 
to  feel  that  it  is  doing  something  for  itself,  that 
it  is  more  than  an  idle  recipient  of  privileges 
and  service.  There  is  high  moral  and  educational 
value  in  self-support. 

Local  Church  Support.  It  is  a  good  thing  to 
begin  early  to  train  all  to  a  share  in  the  work  of  the 
church.  A  definite,  perhaps  only  a  small  propor- 
tion of  the  offering  may  go  to  the  pastor's  salary, 
because  he  is  the  pastor,  the  paid  officer  of  the 
school  as  well  as  of  the  church.  The  support  of 
the  church  gives  the  sense  of  unity  with  the  church. 
It  is  of  great  importance  to  cultivate  this,  and  to 
avert  the  danger  of  the  school  becoming  an  inde- 
pendent and  even  conflicting  power.  The  school 
is  not  only  an  agency  of  the  church;  it  is  the 
church  at  work  in  religious  education.  Therefore, 
the  school  should  have  its  natural  part  in  church 
support. 

Local  Benefice:n"Ces.  The  good  works  of  the 
city  or  village,  those  which  the  pupils  know  directly, 


158  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

make  a  very  proper  and  helpful  appeal  to  them. 
The  school  may  well  spend  time  in  seeing  that,  by 
description  and  by  visits  conducted  by  the  school 
officers,  the  pupils  are  made  familiar  with  the  hos- 
pitals, settlements  and  charities.  Let  the  school 
also  care  wisely  and  with  love  for  its  own  poor  and 
needy. 

World-wide  Missions.  Some  schools  have  cer- 
tain days  set  aside  for  missions,  when  the  offering 
of  the  day  will  be  devoted  to  a  certain  mission  or 
a  field ;  others  set  aside  a  definite  proportion  of  the 
whole  offering  through  the  year  for  their  general 
Home  and  Foreign  Missions.  While  the  raising 
of  goodly  sums  has  a  certain  importance,  the 
greater  thing  is  to  train  to  intelligence  in  what 
these  societies  and  workers  are  doing  and  to  cul- 
tivate the  spirit  that  delights  in  a  practical  share 
in  this  work.  (See  Chapter  XIV,  The  Teaching 
of  Missions.) 

IV.  General  Financial!  Methods 

Let  all  the  financial  affairs  of  the  school  be  so 
conducted  as  to  be  to  every  pupil  an  object  lesson, 
an  effective  first  step  in  business  ethics,  in  the  ap- 
plication of  religion  to  finance  and  to  everyday 
business  affairs.  We  greatly  need  the  training  of 
our  young  people  to  high  religious  and  moral  ideals 
in  commercial  affairs.  The  manner  in  which  the 
school  handles  its  pennies  may  determine  the  man- 


FINANCIAL   METHODS  159 

ner  in  which  the  magnate — now  the  little,  observ- 
ant lad  in  the  class — will  handle  both  millions  and 
men. 

Let  the  accounts  then  of  treasurers  and  financial 
secretaries  be  kept  at  least  as  strictly  as  though  in 
a  bank.  Then  let  there  be  at  stated  periods  reg- 
ular audits  made  of  the  books,  with  a  report  from 
the  auditors  to  the  church  and  the  school. 

The  relation  of  the  finances  of  the  school  to  the 
church  should  be  carefully  adjusted.  Unless  the 
church  polity  forbids  it,  the  plan  of  making  the 
church  treasurer  the  chief  treasurer  of  the  school, 
and  the  church  treasury  the  depository  of  the 
school  funds,  seems  to  be  a  wise  one.  Cultivate 
everything  that  secures  essential  unity  with  the 
church.  There  is  serious  danger  of  divisions 
through  conflicting  financial  machinery  and 
agencies  in  the  church,  which  would  be  obviated 
if  there  be  but  one  chief  treasurer,  but  one  who 
signs  checks  and  passes  on  vouchers  finally.  This 
will  not  mean  that  all  the  funds  are  merged; 
separate  accounts  should  be  kept  and  strictly  held 
sacred  for  their  own  uses.  For  instance,  if  the 
school  is  lapng  up  funds  for  a  new  building  or 
for  better  equipment — as  it  may  well  do — that 
fund  should  be  deposited  by  the  treasurer  of  the 
church,  and  carried  on  the  books  as  a  separate  ac- 
count, while  the  amount  is  carried  always  in  the 
bank  balance. 


160  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

V.  Special  Dangers 

Beware  of  special  appeals  for  unworthy  objects. 
There  are  always  many  travelling  beggars  who 
want  to  present  their  causes — usually  devoted  to 
their  salaries — to  the  school.  If  the  school  intends 
to  make  giving  educational,  it  will  shun  the  prac- 
tice of  appealing  for  enlarged  offerings  to  buy 
Christmas  candies,  or  to  pay  for  school  picnics. 
Unless  such  entertainments  can  be  paid  for  by 
private  subscription,  it  is  better  to  sell  tickets  to 
them,  planning  quietly  to  give  tickets  to  those  who 
cannot  possibly  buy  them.  Keep  always  clear  the 
distinction  between  giving  to  the  Lord's  work  and 
begging  for  ourselves,  or  raising  funds  for  our 
own  fun. 

VI.   The  Motive 

Keep  ever  in  mind  the  great  motive:  we  give 
to  Him  who  has  given  all  good  things,  who  has 
given  Himself  to  us;  we  give,  also,  to  learn  the 
joy  and  enter  into  the  high  privileges  of  the  fel- 
lowship of  giving. 


XVII 

THE  ADULT  BIBLE  CLASS  MOVEMENT 

The  Adult  Bible  Class  Department  in  the  Sunday 
school  is  simply  the  organisation  of  adult  scholars 
for  the  promotion  of  the  interests  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  value  of  their  division  of  the  school. 
It  is  the  recognition  of  the  school  as  an  institution 
for  adult  life,  as  well  as  for  infants,  as  suited  to 
meet  the  religious  needs  of  maturer  years. 

The  value  of  the  department  has  been  already 
demonstrated;  there  is  a  danger,  however,  as  al- 
ways in  any  organisation,  that  it  shall  exist  ex- 
clusively for  organisation  activities,  and  so  fail  of 
its  true  end  of  strengthening  the  school  as,  in  this 
division,  an  institution  for  the  religious  education 
of  men  and  women. 

T.   Principles  of  'Organisation 

The  first  essential  to  a  successful  Adult  Depart- 
ment is  a  man  or  a  woman,  or,  better,  both,  thor- 
oughly in  sympathy  with  the  life  of  young  people, 
alive  to  their  needs  and  interests,  and  enthusiastic 
as  to  their  possibilities  in  Christian  service  and 
character.  Such  persons  would  respectively  bring 
together  all  the  young  men  and  all  the  young 

161 


162  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

women  in  the  school,  organise  them  as  classes,  and 
then  organise  them  as  a  department  for  promotion 
and  fellowship.  All  those  methods  found  wise  in 
organising  young  people  can  be  used  here,  such  as 
officers,  committees,  buttons,  special  duties  for 
them  to  perform ;  but  the  essential  thing  to  do  is  to 
grasp  the  spirit  and  possibilities  of  the  young 
man's  or  young  woman's  life  and,  on  one  side,  to 
minister  to  its  true  development  through  the  school 
and,  on  the  other,  to  enlist  its  service  in  the  work 
of  the  school,  and  thus  to  really  educate  these 
young  people  in  active  living  religion.  It  is  well 
to  organise  for  games,  for  sports,  for  such  things 
as  baseball,  football,  tennis,  rowing,  etc.;  it  is 
well  to  cultivate  the  social  life,  the  aesthetic  inter- 
ests— all  these  may  stand  for  education  by  doing; 
but  the  essential  thing  is  the  fact  of  the  school 
fitting  itself  and  its  method  to  the  life  of  the 
young  man  or  young  woman,  and  enlisting  their 
activities  in  its  service.  The  important  considera- 
tion for  any  school,  so  far  as  any  department  of 
its  activities  is  concerned,  is  not,  as  we  too  often 
think,  what  can  we  get  out  of  these  people  ?  It  is, 
what  contribution  can  we  make  to  their  lives? 
what  service  can  we  render  them?  Sunday-school 
success  hinges  on  the  answer  we  give  to  this,  and 
the  manner  in  which  we  render  the  service. 

In  the  organisation  of  this,  as  of  other  depart- 
ments, the  greatest  care  must  be  exercised  to  see 


ADULT    OKGANISATION  163 

that  their  officers  work  harmoniously  into  the 
scheme  for  the  whole  school.  Departmental  of- 
ficers must  not  forget  that  the  superintendent  is 
the  head  of  the  school,  that  there  are  those  who  are 
in  authority  over  them;  there  is  always  danger  of 
these  facts  being  forgotten  when  a  new  form  of 
organisation  meets  with  unusual  popularity  and 
success. 

II.   Plans  of  Organisation 

There  are  two  aspects  of  the  Adult  Bible  Class 
Movement:  First,  the  organisation  of  this  de- 
partment in  the  individual  school,  and,  second,  the 
inner-relation  and  organisation  of  the  Adult  De- 
partments in  many  schools  in  connection  with  the 
city,  county,  or  State  Sunday  School  Associations. 

1.  The  Department  in  the  School.  So  far  as 
the  general  organisation  of  the  school  is  concerned, 
this  department  simply  corresponds  to  the  Adult 
Division,  and  should  embrace  all  those  persons 
therein  who  are  willing  to  be  identified  with  its 
activities.  It  is  the  special  organisation  of  this 
division  of  the  school,  in  recognition  of  the  special 
needs  of  the  lives  of  young  men  and  women,  in 
order  to  meet  these  needs,  to  make  religious  educa- 
tion in  the  Sunday  school  something  much  broader 
than  instruction,  as  broad  as  the  life  of  man,  and 
also,  recognising  the  gregarious  instincts  of  the 
period  of  life  for  which  it  provides,  to  give  men 


164  THE  MODEEN"  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

and  women  the  enriching  and  toning  np  that  comes 
from  association  together. 

In  the  individual  school  the  first  step  will  be 
the  creation  of  a  sense  of  unity,  of  community  of 
interests  among  the  people  between  about  twenty 
and  forty  years  of  age,  bringing  them  to  group  self- 
realisation.  This  should  be  done  even  though  the 
number  of  such  persons  in  the  school  be  quite 
small.  The  man  must  come  to  know  that  the  Sun- 
day school  is  for  men;  the  time  was  when  it 
seemed  to  be  for  milk-sops,  and  among  adults, 
either  for  monks  or  milliners.  Group  your  men 
together;  create  a  masculine  atmosphere.  Noth- 
ing wins  men  like  manliness;  get  organised,  asso- 
ciated manliness  in  the  Sunday  school. 

The  next  step  in  the  school,  certainly  an  im- 
portant one,  will  be  to  see  that  the  material  and 
the  method  of  instruction  do  not  run  counter  to 
and  undo  the  good  of  such  an  atmosphere.  The 
milk  for  babes  must  not  be  fed  to  men,  even  though 
attempts  be  made  to  adapt  it  to  them  by  souring 
it  into  curds  or  making  it  into  cheese.  There 
must  be  meat  for  men  in  the  course  in  this  depart- 
ment. And  this  meat  must  be  that  which  they 
need  for  their  actual  lives,  not  designed  for  saints 
of  long  ago  alone,  nor  for  theological  students,  but 
designed  for  those  who  desire  to  know  how  to  live 
as  sons  of  God,  as  brothers,  one  to  another,  as 
parents  and  citizens.     It  may  be  important  that  a 


THE   ADULT    DIVISION  165 

man  shall  be  able  to  set  the  tribes  in  their  order  in 
the  promised  land;  but  it  is  of  vastly  greater  im- 
portance that  he  shall  learn  to  set  justice,  truth, 
honour,  duty  to  his  fellow-men  in  their  order  in 
relation  to  all  life's  interests. 

In  order,  too,  that  this  department  may  meet 
the  needs  that  lie  beyond  formal  instruction,  it 
may  well  be  organised  within  itself,  independently 
of  its  usual  grouping  into  classes  in  the  school. 
It  should  meet  and  elect  its  own  "  departmental " 
officers,  it  may  adopt  its  own  badge  or  button;  it 
may  have  its  own  treasury.  The  conduct  of  the 
department  outside  the  class  work  of  the  school 
should  be  in  the  hands  of  a  committee.  Perhaps 
the  best  plan  is  to  have  a  committee  of  four,  the 
chairman  being  the  general  director  of  the  depart- 
ment, the  other  members  being  a  social  director,  a 
spiritual  director,  and  a  physical  director.  The 
general  director  has  work  separate  from  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  Adult  Division;  the  latter  cares 
for  all  the  affairs  of  that  division  during  the  school 
session;  the  former  co-operates  with  him  in  this, 
but  his  special  work  is  the  development  and  care  of 
the  department  outside  the  exercises  of  worship 
and  instruction  in  the  school.  He  promotes  the 
organisation  and  effectiveness  of  the  department  as 
a  whole.  The  social  director  cares  for  the  social 
life  of  the  department,  its  social  gatherings,  re- 
ceptions, banquets,  excursions,  etc.     The  spiritual 


1G6  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

director  promotes  the  meetings  for  worship,  prayer 
meetings,  classes  for  Bible  study  and  for  other 
educational  purposes.  The  physical  director  or- 
ganises and  conducts  the  athletic  sports,  the  tennis, 
baseball,  rowing,  and  all  other  clubs. 

The  activities  of  the  department  may  be  mani- 
fold. Through  all,  the  principal  purpose  must  be 
held  foremost,  that  is  educational,  the  bringing  of 
young  men  and  young  women  into  the  Sunday 
school  and  training  them  in  the  Christian  life. 
It  designs  its  activities  to,  first,  bring  together 
those  adults  who  are  now  in  the  school,  to  adapt  it 
to  their  needs,  to  organise  them  for  study  and  for 
service,  and,  second,  to  use  these  as  a  force  to 
bring  others  into  the  school,  train  and  organise 
them  also ;  keeping  all,  in  all  their  interests,  and  in 
all  the  activities,  so  close  to  the  church  that  reli- 
gion will  become  all-pervasive  and  always  pre- 
dominant in  their  lives.  This  department  will 
endeavour  to  meet  all  the  needs  of  the  lives  of  its 
people  by  (a)  grouping  together  all  the  adults  in 
the  school  into  appropriate  groups  and  into  one 
organisation,  (h)  Eecruiting  to  itself  as  many 
other  young  men  and  women  as  possible,  (c) 
Meeting  for  religious  and  devotional  services  at 
stated  times  outside  the  Sunday  school.  (d) 
Conducting  classes  in  special  subjects  of  religious 
and  educational  interest,  conducting  lecture 
courses,    conferences,   etc.     (e)    Organising    and 


DEPARTMENTAL   ACTIVITIES      167 

engaging  its  members  in  athletic  sports  and  con- 
tests. (/")  Conducting  excursions,  social  gather- 
ings, entertainments,  etc.  (g)  Engaging  in 
specific  services  for  the  church  and  the  school; 
raising  funds  for  certain  objects;  doing  certain 
pieces  of  work,  as  decorating,  cleaning,  providing 
ushers,  circulating  literature,  keeping  church 
notices  in  stores,  on  bulletin  boards,  sending  invita- 
tion to  hotels,  boarding  houses,  etc.;  inviting  in- 
dividuals to  church,  (h)  Undertaking  other  re- 
lated work,  as  the  conduct  of  Boy's  Clubs,  Girls' 
Societies;  the  maintenance  of  missions,  the  care 
of  relief  stations,  ambulance  societies.  Through 
the  Adult  Department  a  school  may  relate  itself 
helpfully  and  beneficially  to  itself  to  the  many 
philanthropic  and  social  movements  and  agencies 
that  often  lack  the  close  relation  to  the  church 
which  they  ought  to  have. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  this  depart- 
ment ought  to  have  its  own  classrooms.  It  ought 
also  to  have  its  departmental  quarters;  some  al- 
ready have  separate  buildings  of  their  own,  much 
like  church  or  parish  houses,  in  which  they  can 
carry  on  a  great  deal  of  useful  work  during  the 
week  as  well  as  meet  in  classes  on  Sunday. 

2.  The  Departments  Organised  in  Relation 
TO  Sunday  School  Associations.  This  is  simply 
the  federation  of  all  such  departments  within  a  given 
territory,  as  city,  county,  or  state,  into  the  Adult 


168  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

Bible  Class  Department  of  the  general  Sunday- 
School  Association  covering  that  territory.  This 
loose  federation  meets  in  connection  with  the  con- 
ventions of  the  Association,  elects  its  special  of- 
ficers, often  conducts  a  special  program,  generally 
carries  on  the  activities  of  a  department  of  the 
Association,  and  promotes  its  work  through  the 
year  by  conferences,  banquets,  special  services  and 
by  the  arrangement  of  athletic  meets  and  contests. 
An  important  development  of  large  educational 
value  has  been  the  organisation  of  what  are  called 
"Adult  Bible  Class  Baseball  Leagues,"  bringing 
together  the  ball  nines  of  a  number  of  adult  de- 
partments. Similar  groupings  are  arranged  for 
other  athletic  interests.  These  leagues,  having 
regular  schedules  and  working  for  pennants,  suc- 
ceed in  raising  the  moral  tone  of  the  game,  purify- 
ing the  atmosphere  of  the  field  and  relating  reli- 
gious life  to  the  natural  love  of  outdoor  life  and 
sports. 

1  Perhaps  the  most  complete  development  of  the 
organisation  of  adult  Bible  classes  has  taken  place  in 
the  State  of  Illinois,  and  particularly  in  Chicago,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Cook  County  Sunday  School  Asso- 
ciation. Helpful  literature  may  be  obtained  by  ad- 
dressing the  office  of  the  Association  at  140  Dearborn 
St.,  Chicago. 


XVIII 

TEAINING  THE  WORKING  FOECES 

There  are  signs  that  religious  workers  are  re- 
covering from  one  of  the  most  dangerous  delusions 
that  ever  afflicted  the  church,  the  belief  that 
ignorance  and  inefficiency  were  indications  or  con- 
ditions of  consecration.  Work  for  the  souls  of 
men,  the  great  task  of  training  men  in  the  art 
of  living  as  the  children  of  God,  is  not  only  the 
highest  and  noblest  that  can  engage  human  hands 
and  hearts,  it  is  also  the  most  difficult.  The 
greater  the  difficulty  of  any  task,  the  greater  the 
need  of  strength  and  preparation.  The  recogni- 
tion of  the  need  of  expert  and  duly  qualified  work- 
ers in  public  education  led  to  the  building  up 
of  the  present  system  of  splendid  normal  col- 
leges and  teachers'  schools.  The  recognition  of 
a  parallel  need,  one  standing  on  yet  higher  ground, 
in  the  case  of  the  minister  of  the  Gospel,  has  led 
to  an  educated  ministry.  Does  not  the  same  need 
exist  for  the  teachers  and  the  administrative  of- 
ficers who  have  to  do  with  the  religious  education 
of  the  child,  with  the  most  delicate  material  in  the 
world,  the  soul,  at  the  determinative  period  of 
life?     Some  of  the  qualities  that  make  successful 

169 


170  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

Sunday-school  people  may  be  inherent  in  some, 
and  to  that  extent  the  teacher  or  the  officer  is 
born  to  his  vocation;  but  in  the  greater  number  of 
respects  they  have  to  be  made.  Teachers  and  of- 
ficers do  not  happen;  whatever  they  know  they 
have  acquired  by  observation  and  experience,  ex- 
perience often  bought  at  the  price  of  years  of 
failure  and  wasted  opportunities,  at  great  cost  to 
those  who  were  being  experimented  on. 

We  will  never  meet  the  task  laid  on  the  Sunday 
school  until  we  appreciate  its  difficulty  and  pre- 
pare to  meet  it  with  workers  duly  trained  and 
qualified.  True,  we  must  keep  the  spiritual  quali- 
fications and  the  personal  equipment  first;  but  we 
must  bring  education,  technical  training  and  pro- 
fessional equipment,  and  recognising  them  neither 
as  ends  in  themselves,  nor  as  sufficient  in  them- 
selves, make  them  all  the  servants  of  this  high  and 
holy  service. 

7.   The  Problem 

It  is  not  only  difficult  to  secure  trained  officers 
and  teachers,  it  is  often  difficult  to  secure  a  suffi- 
cient staff  of  any  kind.  Those  secured  are  fre- 
quently inexperienced,  without  special  training, 
often  inefficient  and  devoid  of  any  sense  of  need 
for  better  preparation  or  at  least  of  willingness  to 
make  the  sacrifices  necessary  to  obtain  it.  There 
has  been  some  improvement  in  the  matter  of  train- 


TEACHER-TRAINING  171 

ing  teachers;  in  many  cities  large  number  of 
special  classes  are  being  held  for  this,  some  schools 
conduct  such  classes  regularly,  some  institutions 
of  learning  provide  special  courses  in  religious 
pedagogy,  and  there  are  opportunities  for  teachers 
at  Bible  Institutes  and  at  Conventions  and  As- 
semblies. State  and  local  organisations  of  Sunday 
schools  foster  this  excellent  work.  There  is  need 
of  similar  pressure  being  brought  on  officers  to  lead 
them  to  secure  proper  training.  It  would  be  hard 
to  find  a  better  example  of  the  conceit  of  ignorant 
inefficiency  than  one  can  see  often  in  the  super- 
intendents who  are  busily,  fussily  engaged,  amidst 
dusty  clouds  of  their  own  glory,  in  turning  the 
wheels  of  institutions  which  are,  in  the  last 
analysis,  neither  religious  nor  educational. 

There  are  certain  definite  factors  which  compli- 
cate the  problem  of  training  the  working  forces 
of  this  school.  There  is  the  greater  need  of  this 
training  because  of  the  difficulty  of  the  task  of 
teaching  religion,  because  of  the  difficulties  of 
working  with  a  volunteer  force,  of  meeting  for 
only  a  brief  period  once  a  week,  and  of  working 
with  inadequate  equipment.  These  reasons  also 
make  it  unfair  to  institute  an  exact  comparison 
between  the  work  of  the  day  school  and  that  of 
the  Sunday  school.  We  may  expect  as  much  of 
one  as  of  the  other  when  we  give  both  the  same 
opportunity  and  equipment. 


172  THE  MODERN"  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

II.  A  Solution  Suggested 

(1)  Train  up  Your  Own  Officers  and 
Teachers  ;  bring  them  up  in  your  own  school.  Do 
this  through  the  agency  of  the  school  itself,  that  is, 
let  the  school  be  so  efficient,  so  well  organised  and 
capable  that  it  shall,  as  an  object  lesson,  be  con- 
stantly educating  its  own  pupils  in  the  best  school 
methods.  Then  let  the  course  be  so  complete  in 
itself,  covering  not  simply  smatterings  from  the 
Bible,  but  comprehensively  and  in  proper  order 
taking  in  the  whole  range  of  religious  truth,  so 
that  when  a  pupil  has  completed  this  course  he 
has  already  received  that  knowledge  which  is 
recognised  as  essential  to  a  teacher's  equipment. 
It  is  an  indictment  of  the  folly  of  the  general 
curriculum  of  the  Sunday  school  that  we  find  it 
necessary  to  give  its  graduates  courses  of  study 
in  Biblical  Introduction  and  History  and  Doc- 
trine before  they  are  ready  to  teach.  These 
courses  should  be  acquired  in  the  classes  before 
one  reaches  the  age  of  twenty-one. 

Let  the  superintendent  have  in  his  mind  those 
pupils  who  give  indications  of  making  good  work- 
ers and  teachers ;  let  him  plan  to  bring  them  ulti- 
mately into  special  classes  provided  for  their  train- 
ing in  methods. 

(2)  Maintain  a  Class  or  Classes  as  Part  of 
THE  Eegular  Work  of  the  School,  preferably  in 


TKAINING    CLASSES  173 

the  adult  division,  in  which  persons  shall  receive 
instruction  in  whatever  parts  of  religious  truth  (in- 
cluding history,  geography,  literature,  etc.),  may  be 
necessary  to  make  up  for  the  deficiencies  of  the  reg- 
ular school  course,  and  also  receive  training  in  the 
special  methods  of  Sunday-school  administration, 
teaching,  etc.  Let  this  class  or  these  classes  meet 
on  Sunday,  under  the  direction  of  a  competent 
pedagog.  Set  before  you  the  end  of  making  this 
course,  or  an  equivalent,  necessary,  required  of 
those  who  would  teach  or  hold  executive  oflSce.  Let 
the  class  follow  carefully,  not  with  haste,  a  regular 
course  of  teacher-training  lessons.  On  completion 
of  this  course,  award  certificates  or  diplomas,  and 
give  special  emphasis  to  the  public  recognition  of 
the  work  of  the  graduates,  making  the  occasion 
such  as  will  impress  others  with  the  importance  of 
such  training  and  will  serve  to  show  that  the  school 
is  endeavouring  to  do  its  great  work  in  a  worthy 
manner. 

It  is  worth  while  to  maintain  such  a  class  as 
this,  even  though  the  number  of  students  dwindles 
down  to  one. 

(3)  Use  Your  Teachers'  Meeting  as  a  train- 
ing school.  Every  teachers'  meeting  ought  to  do  at 
least  three  things:  (1)  Serve  by  cultivating  the 
sense  of  unity  through  all  the  school  forces.  (2) 
Serve  as  a  conference  on  school  problems,  and  an 
agency  for  the  transaction  of  much  school  busi- 


174  THE  MODERK  SUNDAY  SCHOOL   ^ 

ness.  (3)  Afford  opportunity  for  the  definite 
training  of  officers  and  teachers  in  their  duties. 

If  the  school  maintains  the  Sunday  class  men- 
tioned above,  the  training  at  the  teachers'  meeting 
would  be  for  those  in  active  service  who  cannot 
attend  such  a  class. 

The  conception  of  the  teachers'  meeting  as  a 
means  of  preparing  the  teachers  for  the  teaching 
of  their  lesson  week  by  week  is  impossible,  where 
a  graded  course  of  study  is  followed ;  very  few  will 
be  teaching  the  same  lesson.  Even  with  a  uniform 
lesson  it  is  a  mistake;  every  man  must  here  make 
his  own  preparation.  Teachers  have  two  things 
to  learn:  that  there  is  no  proxy  preparation,  and 
there  is  no  post  preparation.  To  allow  another 
to  do  the  hard  work  on  a  lesson  and  think  you  can 
fit  yourself  by  listening  to  him  on  some  night — 
preferably  late  in  the  week,  so  you  may  not  forget 
— is  a  serious  mistake.  Better  the  little  you  dig 
out  and  digest  for  yourself  than  the  vast  amount 
presented  by  another  either  in  a  class  or  in  a 
"  help." 

Beware  of  the  helps  that  hinder  by  making  you 
unable  to  walk  alone. 

III.    Suggestions  on  Training  in  the  Teachers 
Meeting 

(1)  Magnify  this  Meeting.     Make  it  worth 
while.     Make  it   distinct  in  character  from   all 


I      TEACHERS'    MEETING   TRAINING    175 

other     meetings.     Then     require     attendance    of 
teachers,  prospective  teachers  and  officers. 

(2)  Have  a  General  Meeting  of  all  the  force. 
But  make  it  brief.  Present  in  it  those  matters 
which  concern  the  school  as  a  whole.  Despatch 
the  business  promptly;  shut  off  verbose  meander- 
ings.  The  superintendent  must  really  preside. 
At  close  of  general  session  let  teachers  and  officers 
divide  up  into  groups  according  to  the  divisions 
in  which  they  work. 

(3)  Division  Groups.  Let  each  meet  m  its 
special  classroom,  equipped  with  maps  and  refer- 
ence library.  In  these  group  meetings  they  will 
discuss  the  problems  peculiar  to  each  division. 
The  graded  system  tending  to  make  both  teachers 
and  officers  specialists  in  their  departments,  this 
arrangement  is  much  better  than  a  general  con- 
ference on  individual  class  or  pupil  problems. 
These  gatherings,  if  held  weekly,  need  not  last 
long.  But  they  may  be  of  great  value  to  all. 
Following  them,  at  a  definite  hour,  the  teachers 
will  again  group  themselves  into  study  classes. 

(4)  Study  Classes.  Here  the  teachers  will  be 
arranged  according  to  the  work  they  have  done  in 
the  teacher-training  courses.  The  classes  will  fol- 
low a  carefully  prepared  course  of  study,  making 
progress  to  higher  branches  from  year  to  year. 
Work  in  these  classes  will  be,  upon  examination, 
recognised.  Certificates  or  diplomas  awarded  as 
in  the  other  training  classes. 


176  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 


IV.    The  Teacher's  Curriculum 

These  courses  of  study  ought  to  include  at  least 
the  following  subjects:  Sunday-school  history, 
Sunday-school  organisation  and  management,  the 
principles  of  religious  pedagogy,  the  study  of  child 
nature — all  these  on  the  side  of  method;  on  the 
side  of  material:  Old  and  New  Testament  intro- 
duction, biblical  history,  biblical  geography,  out- 
lines of  church  history,  development  and  scope  of 
Christian  institutions  and  modern  philanthropy. 

The  International  Sunday  School  Association, 
through  its  committee  on  education,  set  up  two 
standard  courses  of  study  for  teacher-training 
classes,  an  Elementary  and  an  Advanced  Course. 
The  Elementary  Course  covers  four  subjects, 
namely : 

(a)  An  outline  study  of  the  Old  Testament. 

(b)  An  outline  study  of  the  New  Testament. 

(c)  A  study  of  Sunday-school  Organisation 
and  Management. 

(d)  A  study  of  the  Essential  Principles  and 
Methods  of  Teaching. 

In  order  that  students  in  teacher-training 
classes  may  become  eligible  for  the  certificates  and 
diplomas  awarded  by  the  International  and  the 
State  Associations,  it  is  required  that  a  minimum 
of  ten  lessons  must  be  given  to  each  of  these  sub- 
jects, making  a  total  of  at  least  forty  lessons  for 


TEACHER-TRAINING    COURSES      177 

the  full  Elementary  Course.  Upon  completion  of 
any  course,  a  course  certificate  is  awarded  by  the 
State  Association,  usually  after  passing  an  exam- 
ination; upon  completion  of  all  four  courses  an 
International  Elementary  Diploma  is  awarded. 

The  Advanced  Course  embraces  these  four  sub- 
jects, studied  in  fuller  detail  and  in  a  more  thor- 
ough manner,  as  well  as  the  subjects  of  Church 
History  and  Christian  Doctrine;  it  requires  more 
time  than  the  Elementary. 

Certainly  this  standard  is  not  too  high.  Yet  it 
is  not  often  reached.  Although  there  are  thou- 
sands of  teachers  who  have  received  the  Interna- 
tional Elementary  diploma,  what  are  they  among 
so  many  who  still  sit  in  blissful  unconsciousness 
of  their  deficiencies,  unthinking  of  the  responsi- 
bilities of  teaching  the  young,  and  the  account 
which  they  must  give  of  their  work.  This  stand- 
ard has  its  serious  defects;  but  it  will  be  a  great 
deal  better  for  all  schools  if  everyone  will  seek  to 
reach  it  instead  of  wasting  breath  discussing  its 
pedagogical  defects. 

In  the  case  of  schools  where  teachers  are  really 
being  trained,  and  where  these  elementary  condi- 
tions are  already  met — and  it  will  be  evident  that 
the  work  of  the  first  two  subjects  mentioned  above 
will  be  thoroughly  covered  in  the  course  of  the 
school  work  in  the  regular  classes  of  a  properly 
graded  school — ^then  it  is  time  to  consider  a  better 
course   for   the   training   of   teachers.     Certainly 


178  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

there  must  be  place  in  such  a  course  for  the  study 
of  the  nature  of  the  child,  the  one  to  be  taught; 
Child-psychology  ought  to  be  the  first  subject 
in  a  teacher-training  course.  The  teacher  cannot 
possibly  teach  the  child  unless  she  knows  him, 
knows  him  not  only  as  a  "  dear  little  fellow/'  but 
knows  his  nature,  the  laws  of  that  nature,  the 
emotions,  faculties,  instincts,  the  whole  dynamics 
of  his  being.  No  matter  how  learned  you  may  be 
in  the  Scriptures,  you  cannot  carry  that  learning 
into  his  being  and  the  roads  in  his  soul  country, 
unless  you  also  know  the  rules  of  the  road  there, 
for  they  are  quite  different  from  the  rules  that 
prevail  in  your  own  self. 

There  is  a  whole  world  of  power  waiting  the 
teacher  and  officer  of  the  school  who  will  take  the 
pains  to  enter  into  it.  The  failure,  or  breakdown, 
of  the  school,  wherever  it  occurs,  is  not  due  to  the 
depravity  of  the  pupil,  nor  to  the  inadequacy  of 
the  equipment;  it  is  due  to  the  fact  that  we  are 
blindly  blundering  around  among  the  delicate 
souls  of  children;  we  are  with  the  fingers  of  a 
blacksmith  touching  the  most  delicate  mechanism 
in  nature,  and  creating  discord  and  even  war- 
fare where  harmony  and  efficiency  were  meant  to 
be.  The  powers  of  nature,  the  forces  of  the  child 
life  are  not  opposed  to  religion;  if  we  but  sit 
down  patiently  to  learn  the  laws  of  these  lives,  we 
will  find  that  the  great  powers  within  them  are 


CHILD-STUDY  179 

with  us  and  not  against  us;  we  have  but  to  obey 
them  in  order  to  use  them.  We  must  learn  the 
laws  of  the  child  life. 

Let  the  teacher  or  any  Sunday-school  worker 
begin  this  study;  let  them  once  taste  the  delights 
of  this  well  of  knowledge,  and  an  appetite  is 
created  that  never  will  be  satisfied,  but  will  go  on 
seeking  more  light,  more  power  and  coming  into 
larger  usefulness  and  beauty  of  service.  Sunday- 
school  teachers  only  need  to  get  started  right;  the 
solution  of  the  teacher-training  problem  at  its  root 
is  this  creation  for  an  appetite  for  knowledge  of 
and  ability  to  follow  the  way  of  truth,  the  scientific 
way,  the  only  sacred  way  of  service. 

The  course  of  study  in  question  ought  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  officers  as  well  as  the  teachers; 
while  each  ought  to  be  acquainted  with  the  funda- 
mental principles  in  the  work  of  the  other,  all 
following  an  elementary  course,  there  ought  to  be 
a  point  at  which  officers  and  teachers  each  begin 
to  specialise  on  their  own  work. 

It  may  appear  to  some  that  this  means  the  un- 
dertaking of  business  so  serious  that  teachers  will 
be  unwilling  to  make  the  necessary  sacrifices  and 
to  do  the  necessary  study.  The  mistake  we  have 
too  long  made  in  the  school  is  that  of  attempting 
to  persuade  teachers  that  their  task  is  much  easier 
than  it  ought  to  be;  we  have  attracted  the  sloth- 
ful, the  superficial;  we  have  urged  men,  and  es- 


180  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

pecially  women,  to  teach,  and  when  they  have 
raised  the  very  proper  objection  that  they  were  not 
prepared  or  were  not  trained  or  equipped,  we  have 
answered,  saying  that  this  work  was  such  that 
practically  one  needed  neither  training  nor  special 
preparation  for  it.  It  is  a  good  deal  easier  to  get 
people  to  do  hard  things  than  it  is  to  secure  effi- 
ciency by  setting  up  standards  of  mediocrity.  Let 
it  be  so  dignified  and  worthy  a  thing  to  be  a 
teacher  in  the  school,  a  thing  requiring  training 
and  toil,  and  you  will  find  the  best  people  you 
have  attracted  to  it;  they  want  to  do  things  worth 
the  doing ;  they  care  nothing  for  those  things  done 
without  effort  or  in  one's  sleep. 

In  designing  teacher-training  courses  of  study, 
however,  there  must  be  ample  provision  made  for 
the  most  elementary  work.  Such  courses  often 
fail  because  they  are  designed  either  wholly  for 
academic  ends,  or  because  they  begin  a  great 
distance  ahead  of  where  the  average  teacher  stands. 
Find  out  just  what  your  teachers  do  know  in  any- 
thing like  a  systematic  manner  about  the  Bible,  or 
about  the  art  of  teaching,  and  you  will  be  per- 
suaded that  it  is  wise  to  begin  at  the  beginning 
with  them. 

Schools  should  not  be  satisfied,  however,  with 
elementary  courses  alone.  Provision  must  be 
made  for  advanced  studies.  The  day  will  come 
when  the  elementary  courses  will  be  required  be- 


NEIGHBOURHOOD    CLASSES        181 

fore  a  teacher  can  have  charge  of  a  class;  the 
courses  that  follow  should  be  continued  along  with 
the  work  of  teaching. 

V.   Neighbourhood  Training  Classes 

Where  it  is  impossible  to  find  the  people  and 
the  interest  to  maintain  these  classes  in  the  in- 
dividual school,  it  is  often  possible  to  arrange  to 
have  the  teachers  from  the  neighbourhood  group 
of  schools,  all  the  churches  in  the  village  uniting 
perhaps,  gathering  weekly  for  a  Union  Teacher- 
training  Class.  Perhaps  two  classes  can  be  ar- 
ranged, one  doing  the  elementary,  and  the  other 
the  advanced  work.  Such  classes  are  often  able 
to  secure  the  services  of  expert  teachers  from  some 
other  place.  The  various  Sunday  School  Asso- 
ciations, as  well  as  other  organisations  for  pro- 
moting religious  education,  outline  courses  of  study 
and  often  provide  teachers  for  classes.  But  it 
must  be  steadily  borne  in  mind  that  "union" 
classes  do  not  represent  the  best  nor  the  normal 
method  of  training  teachers,  for  this  work  is  part 
of  the  duty  of  the  separate  school;  it  should  be 
regarded  just  as  much  a  part  of  the  activities  and 
the  regular  curriculum  of  the  school  as  its  Ele- 
mentary division,  for  instance. 

VL    In  General. 
The  school  should  also  aid  its  teachers  in  their 


182  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

general  preparation  by  stimulating  their  reading 
along  lines  helpful  to  their  special  work.  A  school 
may  well  have  a  general  educational  committee 
which  shall  not  only  supervise  the  curriculum  of 
the  school,  including  the  courses  of  study  for 
teachers,  but  shall  also  from  time  to  time  set  forth 
courses  of  reading  for  the  teachers,  shall  call  to 
their  attention  each  new  and  worthy  book  that 
appears  on  their  work,  or  on  the  subjects  which 
they  are  teaching.  If  you  have  teachers  careless 
and  indil?erent,  willing,  apparently,  to  continue  in 
their  incompetency,  you  may  often  arouse  them 
and  begin  the  process  which  shall  result  in  their 
steady  labour  of  improvement,  by  giving  them  one 
of  the  many  excellent,  stimulating  books  on  the 
modern  Sunday  school  and  its  methods,  or  on  the 
art  of  teaching  in  the  Sunday  school. 

Another  means  that  has  been  found  very  help- 
ful in  stimulating  teachers  to  make  more  adequate 
preparation  is  that  of  holding  Institutes  or  Con- 
ferences on  Sunday-school  methods  and  problems. 
Many  a  teacher  and  worker,  now  by  training  and 
efficiency  noted  as  a  leader  in  religious  education, 
has  received  his  first  impetus  to  improvement  by 
attending  a  gathering  of  this  kind. 

Keep  the  teachers  steadily  in  touch  with  the 
best  that  is  being  thought  and  accomplished  in 
every  department  of  Sunday-school  endeavour. 
Intelligence  is  certainly  one  of  the  parents  of  effi- 


STIMULATING   TO    IMPROVEMENT  183 

ciency.  Schools  do  not  waste  their  money  when 
they  spend  some  of  it  on  papers,  magazines  and 
books  which  bring  their  workers  into  touch  with 
and  knowledge  of  the  methods,  experiences  and 
plans  of  others. 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  lay  aside  the  regular  pro- 
gram of  the  teachers'  meeting  through  the  sum- 
mer months,  and  have  for  at  least  part  of  the 
time  addresses  from  experts  and  leaders  in  differ- 
ent departments,  from  those  who  have  acquired  the 
right  to  speak  with  authority  on  the  methods  and 
the  principles  of  Sunday-school  work.  Do  not  be 
ashamed  to  ask  such  an  one  to  address  the  little 
group  of  your  corps  of  teachers;  the  best  work  is 
not  usually  done  in  great  gatherings,  but  in  close 
touch  with  the  little  groups  of  workers;  conven- 
tions have  inspirational  value;  but  for  instruc- 
tional value    the  conference  is  to  be  preferred. 

Let  each  school,  then,  be  governed  by  the  prin- 
ciple, first,  that  so  great  a  work  as  that  of  reli- 
gious education  demands  the  very  highest  class 
of  service  and  the  most  highly  developed  efficiency, 
and,  second,  that  such  efficiency  will  not  be  secured 
by  accident;  it  must  be  attained  by  definite  and 
wisely  directed  efforts.  If  you  would  have  the 
work  well  done  by  capable  people  you  must  train 
and  direct  them. 


XIX 

THE  LIBRARY  PROBLEM 

The  average  Sunday-school  library  is  not  a  shining 
success.  But  it  is  quite  generally  assumed  that 
every  school  must  have  a  collection  of  books  and  a 
librarian.  The  impression  prevails  that  such  an 
annex  is  essential  to  the  orthodox  organisation  of 
the  school.  And  it  seems  to  be  the  popular  belief 
that,  given  so  many  shelves  filled  with  books  and 
some  plan  of  charging  them  to  scholars  as  they  are 
distributed  and  crediting  their  return,  you  have  a 
valuable  adjunct  to  Sunday-school  work. 

7.   Shall  We  Have  a  Library? 

In  view  of  the  value  of  the  work  of  public 
libraries  no  word  needs  to  be  said  in  support  of 
the  maintenance  of  libraries  in  general;  the  pres- 
ent question  is  whether  the  Sunday  school  needs 
a  special  library  ?  That,  if  answered  in  the  affirma- 
tive, leads  to  the  further  questions :  In  what  shall 
it  consist?  How  shall  it  be  selected?  How  main- 
tained ?  How  conducted  so  as  to  be  of  the  largest 
spiritual  and  religious  educational  value? 

1.  Shall  the  Sunday  School  Have  a  Gen- 
eral Library f   Yes,  if  there  is  need  of  one;  no, 

184 


THE    GENERAL   LIBRARY  185 

if  there  is  not.  Every  comiminity,  no  matter  how 
small,  needs  an  agency  or  organisation  for  the  col- 
lection and  distribution  of  good  literature,  for  the 
promotion  of  its  reading  and  study,  and,  if  possi- 
ble, a  centre  or  centres  of  the  literary,  artistic  and 
social  educational  life  of  its  people.  If  that  need 
is  not  met  for  all  the  people  by  any  other  agency, 
or  is  not  met  so  well  as  the  Sunday  school  can 
meet  it,  then  let  the  school  proceed  to  meet  it,  if 
it  is  able  to  do  so. 

But  in  nearly  every  community  to-day  is  found 
the  public  library  with  greater  resources,  higher 
development,  better  equipment  and  larger  field  of 
operations  than  would  be  possible  to  all  the  Sun- 
day schools  banded  together.  The  average  Sun- 
day-school library  with  its  pitiable  collection  of 
ragged  books,  selected  by  aged  saints  on  account 
of  their  painfully  pious  platitudes  or  their  im- 
possible puerile  martyrs — or,  it  may  be,  purchased 
under  the  pressure  of  a  denominational  publish- 
ing house — such  a  library  presents  a  damaging 
contrast  to  the  splendid  collection  and  the  wise 
organisation  one  is  likely  to  find  in  the  public 
library. 

It  is  but  folly  for  the  Sunday  school,  where 
there  is  a  good  public  library,  to  waste  its  time 
and  money  duplicating  in  a  feeble  way  the  work 
of  the  latter  in  providing  general  literature,  the 
classics   of   English,   and  the  popular  crazes   in 


186  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

modern  novels,  or  meeting  the  need  for  history, 
biography,  fiction,  poetry,  essays,  etc. 

2.  Granting  this.  Shall  the  Sunday  School 
Provide  "  Eeligious  Literature  "  ?  If  by  this 
is  meant  the  old  type  of  "  Sunday-school-Library  " 
book,  with  its  pitiable  caricatures  of  fine  Christian 
character,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  such 
literature  is  worse  than  none  at  all,  that  it  may 
do  fully  as  much  harm  as  the  trashy  "  Diamond 
Dick  "  type.  But,  if  one  means  to  include  in  this 
all  those  books  which  deal  directly  with  religious 
subjects,  such  as  religious  history,  biography  and 
philosophy,  biblical  exposition  and  introduction, 
together  with  text-books  on  religious  and  eccle- 
siastical subjects — including  in  all  these  those  writ- 
ten from  the  view  points  of  both  children  and 
adults,  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  the  proper 
field  of  the  Sunday-school  library,  one  which  it 
must  cultivate,  provided  others  are  not  already 
properly  doing  the  work  therein.  It  is  a  rare 
thing  to  find  a  public  library  which  does  not  con- 
tain a  better  collection  of  books  strictly  religious 
and  suited  to  children  and  adults,  than  could  be 
found  in  all  the  Sunday  schools  of  the  neighbour- 
hood. More  than  this,  it  is  the  settled  policy  of  a 
large  number  of  public  libraries  to  place  on  their 
shelves  the  best  works  on  the  history,  activities 
and  polity  of  each  denomination  represented  in 
the   community.     The   librarians   frequently   ask 


RELATION   TO    PUBLIC     LIBRARY   187 

pastors  and  others  to  recommend  such  books. 
The  Sunday-school  officers  may  often  accomplish 
more  by  recommending  the  right  books  to  the  pub- 
lic library  than  by  putting  them  on  the  shelves  of 
the  school  library.  They  will  thus  secure  for  them 
a  wider  reading.  Let  the  school  co-operate  with  the 
public  library,  then,  whenever  the  latter  is  willing 
to  do  the  work  which  the  former  initiated,  and  in 
which  it  must  be  confessed  it  very  largely  failed, 
that  of  providing  religious  literature  for  the 
people. 

The  plan  has  been  tried,  with  success,  of  making 
the  Sunday  schools  substations  for  Sunday  deliv- 
ery of  books  from  the  public  library;  it  would  be 
well  if  arrangements  might  be  made  for  distribu- 
tion from  the  Sunday-school  rooms  on  week  days 
also.  The  superintendents  may  from  the  desk,  or 
the  teachers  in  their  classes  and  in  connection  with 
the  lessons,  call  attention  to  helpful  books  in  the 
library.  The  school  ought  to  send  to  the  public 
library  at  the  beginning  of  each  year's  work  a 
statement  of  what  the  work  will  be  in  each  grade, 
with  recommendations  of  suitable  books. 

3.  Does  the  Public  Library  then"  Make 
THE  Sunday  School  Library  Unnecessary? 
Even  where  we  find  the  utmost  liberality  on 
the  part  of  the  public  library  and  the  most 
perfect  provision  made  therein  for  the  needs  of 
Sunday-school   people,   both   for  pupils   and   for 


188  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

teachers,  we  are  likely  still  to  need  a  Sunday- 
school  library  of  some  sort.  But  it  will  not 
be  at  all  like  the  promiscuous,  heterogeneous 
aggregation  of  books,  selected  solely  for  their 
piety,  to  which  we  have  been  used.  If  the  public 
library  furnishes  the  general  literature.  Christian 
literature,  religious  history,  biography,  church  his- 
tory and  even  denominational  history  and  institu- 
tions; even  if  it  goes  further  and  makes  provision 
for  the  special  subjects  being  studied  in  the  school, 
there  will  still  be  need  of  a  special  library  for  the 
Sunday  school.  This  would  be  a  collection  of  the 
technical  books  on  the  teachers'  and  officers'  work, 
together,  in  many  instances,  with  books  on  the 
study  and  interpretation  of  the  biblical  text. 
Such  works  of  this  kind  as  cannot  be  found  in  the 
public  library  ought  to  be  provided  for  its  workers 
by  the  school.  These  would  be  of  greater  value  to 
the  usefulness  of  the  institution  than  thousands 
of  volumes  of  stories  and  mawkish  trash  for  the 
reading  of  the  pupils.  Let  the  school  officers 
select  the  best  works,  not  necessarily  the  most 
learned  alone,  but  the  best  for  each  grade  of 
teachers  and  workers,  on  Sunday-school  history, 
organisation,  methods,  on  religious  pedagogy,  on 
religious  education  in  general,  on  psychology,  on 
the  study  of  the  spiritual  life  and  the  religious 
nature.  Besides  many  standard  and  absolutely 
essential  books  on  these  subjects  there  are  appear- 


A   WORKERS'    LIBRARY  189 

ing  new  and  valuable  works.  They  should  not 
be  selected  at  random,  nor  on  specious  advertise- 
ments alone.  Let  a  committee,  which  shall 
include  some  well-qualified  general  educators,  be 
appointed  to  recommend  books  for  this  "  Worker's 
Library." 

Having  installed  such  a  library,  there  comes  the 
duty  of  seeing  that  it  is  used.  Once  you  are  able 
to  start  a  teacher's  interest  in  her  work,  there  will 
be  no  trouble  in  sustaining  the  interest.  Teachers 
will  realise  their  own  needs  and  imperfections,  and 
go  on  from  stage  to  stage  of  study  and  improve- 
ment through  the  use  of  this  library.  It  should 
fit  into  the  Teacher-training  courses  being  con- 
ducted by  the  school,  so  that  teachers  find  in  it  the 
general  or  supplementary  reading  required  in  con- 
nection with  their  text-books.  It  would  not  be 
an  unwise  provision  to  make  it  include  the  text- 
books themselves,  at  least  for  those  who  were  at 
first  unwilling  to  buy  their  books. 

II.    How  to  Have  a  Library 

So  that  the  course  where  a  good  public  library 
is  in  the  city  or  village  would  seem  to  be,  not  to 
give  up  the  Sunday-school  library  altogether,  but 
to  turn  it,  first,  from  an  empty  and  often  futile 
organisation  into  a  force  to  supplement  and  assist 
the  public  library.     Use  your  best  endeavours  to 


190  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

guard  the  public  library  from  becoming  an  irreli- 
gious or  an  anti-religious  force,  urge  the  purchase 
of  the  best  books  and  the  exclusion  of  those  that 
are  positively  damaging,  co-operate  in  the  selection 
of  the  best  books ;  advise  on  the  proper  and  worthy 
works  on  such  subjects  as  Christian,  or  general 
religious  biography,  missions,  Christian,  ethics, 
etc.  Use  the  public  library  just  as  far  as  you  can, 
for  it  is  always  better  to  do  things  together  when 
you  can  than  to  do  them  apart.  Then,  if  there 
are  books  needed  for  either  scholars  or  teachers 
which  the  public  library  does  not  and  will  not 
supply,  get  them  yourselves  and  see  that  they  are 
properly  kept  and  circulated. 

Now  as  to  the  principles  of  selection,  conduct 
and  circulation,  which  will  apply  either  to  this 
smaller  special  library  or  to  those  larger  libraries 
which  the  school  must  maintain  where  there  is  no 
accessible  public  library: 

1.  Content  of  the  Sunday  School  Library: 
Having  determined  the  purpose  of  this  library, 
which  is  seen  to  be  the  religious  education  of  the 
pupils  of  the  school  by  means  of  suitable  literature, 
and  having  decided  on  the  limits  of  the  range  of 
this  literature,  a  matter  we  have  seen  to  be  deter- 
mined by  the  extent  to  which  library  needs  are  met 
by  other  institutions,  it  ought  not  to  be  difficult  to 
select  suitable  contents  for  the  library.  Its  pur- 
pose would  generally  exclude  all  books  of  an  irreli- 
gious character.     Generally  speaking,  it  will,  at 


CONTENT    OF   THE    LIBRARY      191 

first  at  least,  exclude  those  of  recreation  and 
amusement  only,  as  well  as  works  of  pure  science 
and  of  general  instruction  in  arts  and  industries. 
Of  course  it  can  be  seen  that  there  will  be  situations 
in  which  the  Sunday-school  library  must  provide 
for  the  whole  range  of  the  literary  life  of  the 
community.  But  wherever  this  need  can  be  met 
by  other  agencies,  it  is  folly  for  the  school  to  ex- 
pect its  library  to  include  all  the  types  of  litera- 
ture; it  would  be  as  reasonable  to  say  that  the 
Sunday-school  course  must  cover  the  whole  range 
of  general  knowledge.  The  library  of  this  school 
must  be  in  harmony  with  and  correlate  itself  to  the 
specific  purpose  of  the  school.  It  will  contain 
those  books  which  build  up  or  which  lead  to 
moral  and  religious  character.  It  will  include 
biography,  history,  fiction,  travel,  philosophy, 
sociology,  biblical  interpretation,  Christian  doctrine 
and  religious  methods  of  work.  It  ought  to  meet 
the  needs  of  every  age  and  of  every  grade  of  in- 
telligence and  intellectual  and  spiritual  develop- 
ment in  the  school.  The  books  for  young  children 
should  be  not  only  those  that  they  ought  to  read, 
but  those  they  both  ought  to  read  and  will  read. 
The  library  ought  not  to  consist  of  those  books 
which  no  bookseller  could  possibly  sell  to  any 
others  than  Sunday-school  library  committees, 
but  of  such  an  array  of  titles  as  will  make  the 
mental  appetite  to  desire  more  time  in  which  to 
read,   as   will   effectively   answer  the   trite   sneer 


192  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

against  the  Sunday-school  library.  This  institu- 
tion has  the  greatest  work  to  do;  it  should  ha-'.^e 
the  best  tools. 

A  division  of  the  library  of  no  small  value  is 
that  for  reference  works,  and  books  for  the  special 
use  of  the  teachers  and  officers.  Every  library 
ought  to  have  such  a  section,  consisting  of  such 
books  as  will  help  the  teachers  to  adequate,  proper 
preparation  of  the  lessons  they  must  teach,  and 
will  fit  them  for  their  tasks  as  teachers  or  officers 
by  instruction  in  their  duties,  and  the  underlying 
principles  of  these  duties.  This  section  of  the 
books  ought  to  be  so  placed  as  to  be  accessible  to 
those  who  will  use  it  at  any  time. 

2  The  Selection  op  a  Sunday  School  Li- 
brary. Practically  the  content  of  the  library  de- 
pends on  this,  and  this  on  the  persons  or  person 
having  it  in  charge.  Let  the  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  selection  be  chosen  for  familiarity  with 
books,  for  literary  taste  and  religious  knowledge, 
and  also  for  sympathy  with  the  life  of  the  pupils. 
Let  the  committee  really  select  the  books  individu- 
ally, not  by  the  quantity,  nor  often  by  the  set.  They 
may  secure  excellent  lists  of  suitable  books  from 
the  larger  public  libraries  as  well  as  from  publish- 
ers. A  box  or  blank  book  should  be  accessible  to  all 
pupils  by  means  of  which  they  may  make  request 
for  new  books.  Have  a  care  lest  even  the  best 
committee  you  can  secure  becomes  lop-sided,  buy- 


MAINTAINING    THE    LIBRARY     193 

ing  only  books  of  a  certain  type,  or  on  a  particular 
subject;  beware,  also,  lest  the  personal  tastes  of 
its  members  become  the  sole  criterion  for  the  judg- 
ment of  books. 

3.  Maintaining  the  Library.  Where  it  seems 
wise  to  limit  the  library  to  a  selection  of  books 
for  workers,  the  expense  will  not  be  very  great. 
The  general  library  must  be  maintained  by  the 
appropriation  of  a  certain  proportion  of  the 
school  income  for  this  purpose.  In  some  schools 
it  is  possible  to  do  even  better  by  securing  a  few 
generous  gifts  for  this  division  of  the  work.  In 
any  case  do  not  let  it  depend  on  sporadic  interest, 
nor  on  the  chance,  unregulated  donations  of  worn- 
out  or  still-born  books. 

4.  Conduct  of  the  Library.  The  suggestions 
given  below  will  not  need  argument  or  elaboration 
for  those  who  have  had  experience  in  library  work ; 
those  who  have  had  none  will  be  persuaded  of  their 
value  by  trying  them. 

(1)  All  books  on  open  shelves,  accessible  to 
pupils. 

(2)  Librarian  in  charge  of  all;  assistants  in 
charge  of  divisions  of  necessary  labour. 

(3)  Books  returned  by  pupils  at  one  door  or 
window,  on  entering  library,  and  credited  to  pupil 
there;  selected  from  shelves,  and  then  charged  at 
another  door  or  window  on  leaving.  Be  sure  to 
adopt  and  closely  follow  a  comprehensive  system 


194  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

of    charging    and    crediting    books.       Keep    the 
library  activities  and  business  out  of  the  classes. 

(4)  Library  closed  to  pupils  during  school  ses- 
sions ;  open  for  circulation  at  certain  fixed  periods, 
after  school  and  if  possible  during  week,  in  charge 
of  proper  officer  when  open  for  reference  purposes. 

(5)  Absolute  impartiality  as  to  distribution  of 
books;  librarians  must  have  no  favourites  for 
whom  the  new  books  are  reserved. 

(6)  Bulletin  interesting,  new  and  timely  books. 
Encourage  pupils  to  advise  with  teachers  as  to 
selection.  Under  the  plan  above  teachers  can  go 
with  class  and  aid  in  choice  of  books. 

No  library  at  all  is  better  than  one  so  poor  or 
so  illy  conducted  as  to  reflect  discredit  on  the 
school,  especially  if  it  be  thrown  into  comparison 
with  a  public  library. 

Practically  almost  everything  depends  on  the 
librarian,  the  one  who  knows  why  you  have  a  li- 
brary, who  knows  and  respects  the  tastes  and  needs 
of  the  pupils,  who  knows  the  contents  and  possibili- 
ties of  the  books,  who  understands  the  science,  the 
technical  aspects,  of  their  selection,  arrangement, 
preservation  and  circulation. 

A  library  is  worth  what  it  costs,  multiplied  by 
the  intelligence,  sympathy  and  self-denial  put  into 
it  or  divided  by  the  ignorance  and  indifference  of 
its  officers. 


XX 

FACTOES  m  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  SUCCESS 

So  far  we  have  concerned  ourselves  almost  ex- 
clusively with  methods  of  work ;  but,  back  of  these 
and  of  far  greater  importance  as  determining  the 
value  of  the  work,  lies  the  dominant  motives. 
The  best  machinery,  most  perfectly  adapted  to  its 
purposes,  may  be  worthless  if  the  dynamic  of  high 
and  worthy  purpose  be  lacking.     There  is  need  of : 

/.    Clear  and  Inspiring  Ideas  as  to  the  Purpose  of 
the  School  and  the  Nature  of  Its  WorTc 

Every  officer,  teacher  and  supporter  should 
have  a  conception  of  its 

1.  Lofty  Purpose.  Character  is  basic  to  so- 
ciety, is  the  noblest  fruit  of  the  universe,  is,  so  far 
as  we  know,  the  purpose  of  all  the  divine  activities. 
It  is  the  purpose  of  the  Sunday  school.  This 
school  is  the  one  agency  directly,  exclusively  en- 
gaged in  its  culture,  in  building  up  religious  char- 
acter. There  is  no  greater  work  in  the  world. 
If  any  seek  to  deride  it,  then,  take  an  inventory  of 
what  the  church,  the  city,  the  nation  owes  to  the 
Sunday  school  as  a  character-building  institution. 

2.  Definite  Purpose.  To  see  the  Sunday  school, 

195 


196    THE   MODEEN"   SUNDAY   SCHOOL 

not  as  a  plaything,  nor  merely  as  an  inherited  or 
acquired  habit,  not  as  a  weekly  religious  perform- 
ance, nor  as  an  unwelcome  duty,  but  as  an  organ- 
isation, perfected  through  testing  and  experience, 
seriously  designed  and  conducted  for  certain 
specific  purposes,  all  of  which  come  under  the 
general  head  of  religious  education.  In  detail 
some  of  these  purposes  are: 

(1)  Laying  the  foundations  of  Christion  char- 
acter in  the  knowledge  of  its  high  ideals,  its  laws, 
its  mighty  forces,  the  facts  of  its  history  and  all 
the  story  of  God's  work  in  His  world. 

(2)  Eevealing  the  forces  of  Christian  character, 
as  seen  in  the  life  of  God's  Son,  in  the  lives  of  all 
His  saints,  as  found  in  the  presence  of  God  with 
men,  in  the  possibilities  of  prayer,  in  the  power 
of  the  spiritual  life,  in  the  power  of  the  Bible  over 
character. 

(3)  Cultivating  the  habits  of  the  higher  life. 
By  atmosphere,  environment,  drawing  out  the  soul 
as  the  dominant  force  and  the  true  end  of  living; 
by  repeated  action,  emphasis  on  attitude  and  trend 
of  thought,  teaching,  training,  to  live  to  the  things 
above. 

(4)  Persuading  to  follow  the  great  example  of 
Christian  character,  leading  to  loyalty  to  and  con- 
fession of  Christ  as  Lord.  Here  the  teacher  must 
beware  of  setting  up  individualistic  standards  of 
"  conversion.'^ 


IDEALS    OF    THE    SCHOOL         197 

(5)  Training  in  Christian  character.  Conver- 
sion is  but  the  beginning.  The  Sunday  school 
must  be  the  training  school  for  service;  here  men 
and  women  must,  while  life  and  habits  are  in  the 
making,  learn  to  become  active,  useful  Christians. 
It  will  be  the  training  school  of  the  church,  ac- 
quainting its  people  with  the  history,  principles, 
problems  and  methods  of  this  institution.  All  the 
activities  of  a  well-organised  school  will  have  the 
church  in  view;  they  will  lead  to  church  member- 
ship, to  useful,  fruitful  church  membership. 

II.    Fitting  and   Worthy  Means  to  Accomplish 
the  Purpose 

1.  In  the  School.  (1)  The  best  educational 
methods,  causing  the  splendid  work  done  by  care- 
ful, devoted  students  of  the  problems  of  general 
education,  to  bring  tribute  to  this  greatest  of  edu- 
cational agencies.  If  the  work  is  so  important 
the  methods  should  be  commensurate.  We  have 
no  right  to  expect  to  mould  character  "wdth  a 
meat  axe,  nor  have  we  any  right  to  complain  if 
failure  awaits  ufi  when  we  fail  to  use  the  best 
methods. 

(2)  The  effect  of  high  moral  and  Christian 
character  on  the  part  of  all  officers  and  teachers. 
Under  no  circumstances  allow  the  work  of  the 
school  to  be  undone  by  the  contagion  of  immoral 
character.     Keep  in  mind  the  effect  of  absolute 


198  THE  MODERN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

sincerity,  reverence  and  seriousness  of  purpose. 
Solid  character  cannot  be  built  by  the  hands  of 
shams.  Strong  as  must  be  the  emphasis  on  right 
methods  and  right  matter  in  teaching,  still 
stronger  must  it  be  on  the  personal  element  be- 
tween teacher  and  pupil.  There  is  a  subtle  some- 
thing that  reaches  the  pupil  when  you  are  honestly, 
sincerely,  deeply  interested  in  him  as  a  human  be- 
ing— not  as  a  pupil  only,  not  as  a  problem  only, 
not  as  one  who  may  be  made  to  bring  you  credit 
as  a  teacher — that  is  mightier  with  him  than  all 
argument  or  force.  Gain  his  confidence  and  de- 
serve to  keep  it;  know  his  real  life,  his  home,  his 
habits,  his  pets,  his  tastes.  Don't  talk  of  love,  just 
let  yourself  go  out  after  him;  keep  his  respect. 

(3)  The  value  of  the  appeal  to  the  pupil's  in- 
tellectual life.  The  school  and  its  work  and  its 
message  must  win  his  respect;  there  must  be  in- 
tellectual assent  on  his  part. 

(4)  We  cannot  ignore  the  deepest  need,  that  of 
an  all-persuading  passion  for  people,  for  boys  and 
girls,  for  men  and  women,  a  desire  to  lead  them  to 
Christ  for  their  own  sakes,  not  to  increase  our  own 
numbers,  nor  for  the  sake  of  the  church  or  any 
other  motive  save  love  for  them.  This  high 
motive  will  find  expression,  not  in  sentimental 
statements  of  affection,  nor  in  moonings  of  love, 
but  in  the  spirit  that  sacrifices,  that  studies,  that 
serves,  that  brings  its  best  of  body  and  intellectual 


EELATION    TO    OTIIEE    AGENCIES    190 

life  and  inner  spirit  to  the  service  of  the  child 
life. 

2.  In  the  Agencies  Outside  the  School. 
•The  success  of  the  school  will  depend  very  largely 
on  its  right  correlation  to  all  the  other  forces  that 
are  determining  the  characters  of  its  pupils. 

(1)  The  church  must  co-operate  in  every  way. 
Its  worship,  meetings,  societies  and  activities 
should  be  studied  in  an  endeavour  to  fit  their  work 
to  that  of  the  school,  to  make  them  supplement 
where  the  school  is  incomplete,  to  co-ordinate  all 
the  work  of  the  church  to  the  development  of 
Christian  character  and  efficiency  in  service. 

(2)  In  the  home  it  may  be  possible  to  secure 
the  aid  of  parents,  to  consult  with  them,  to  sug- 
gest family  prayers,  to  have  a  watch-care  over  the 
child's  prayers  and  everyday  reading,  to  know 
something  about  and  to  influence  his  recreations 
and  to  direct  the  use  of  his  leisure. 

(3)  The  public  school  teachers  desire  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  their  pupils;  the  moral  pur- 
pose of  the  school  is  becoming  evident.  There 
might  often  be  profitable  conferences  between  the 
teachers  of  these  two  institutions. 

III.    Paying  tlie  Price 

So  great  a  work  cannot  be  done  in  a  cheap  way ; 
the  making  of  life  will  cost  life. 

1.  Paying  the  Price  in  Money.    The  school 


200  THE  MODEEN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

offers  an  opportunity  for  the  most  direct,  effective, 
profitable  form  of  church  service;  nowhere  can  a 
better  investment  be  made  than  here.  Yet  the 
tendency  has  been  to  think  that  a  Sunday  school 
needed  money  not  at  all.  We  spend  millions  on 
attempts  to  induce  a  handful  of  wandering  old 
sheep  to  bring  their  worn-out  lives  back  into  the 
fold,  to  the  hundreds  we  invest  in  keeping  all  the 
lambs  therein. 

2.  Paying  the  Price  in  Materials.  It  is  a 
strange  commentary  on  selfish  blindness,  a  revela- 
tion of  a  suicidal  policy,  when  one  passes  from 
the  church  auditorium  with  soft  carpets,  stained 
windows  and  pealing  organ,  to  the  bare,  cold, 
harsh  Sunday-school  room.  It  means  that  we  are 
willing  to  do  much  for  our  own  ease,  but  nothing 
for  the  things  we  profess  to  regard  as  the  chief 
purposes  of  the  church.  The  church  that  does  not 
provide  its  school  with  the  best  materials  in  the 
way  of  general  facilities  and  equipment  is  simply 
draining  the  stream  of  its  own  life  at  the  very 
source. 

3.  Paying  the  Price  in  Life,  in  manhood  and 
womanhood.  It  takes  lives  to  make  life.  The 
successful  schools,  after  all,  are  successful  just  in 
the  measure  in  which  men  and  women  are  putting 
themselves,  their  own  lives,  their  physical,  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  energies,  into  them.  The 
schools  are  finding  lives  where  their  workers  are 


THE    MOTIVE  201 

losing  theirs.  It  costs  pain,  fatigue,  loss,  weari- 
ness of  body  and  of  mind ;  it  takes  flesh  and  blood 
and  soul  to  make  a  Sunday  school.  It  takes  heroes 
and  heroines,  folks  who  do  not  fear  storm,  or 
darkness,  or  the  loss  of  social  pleasures,  if  but 
they  may  serve  the  souls  of  men. 

For  all,  the  higher  the  education,  the  more 
perfect  the  methods,  the  finer  the  training,  the 
wider  the  experience,  the  better;  but  all  these  are 
wholly  worthless  without  the  offering  of  the  real 
self  to  this  service,  in  simple  love  for  those  for 
whom  He  died,  while  all  these  are  glorified  a 
thousand  times  when  consecrated  to  such  an  end. 


THE  END 


INDEX 

Absences,   providing  for,  Classroom,  107 

32  Classification    of    pupils, 

Adolescents,     curriculum  65 

for    126  Closing  program,  100 

Adult  Bible  classes,  161     Committees,  48 

Division,  68,  161,  165       Contests,   harmful,    75 
Program   for,   101  Correlating      school      to 

American    Sunday-school  other     educational 

idea,  22  agencies,  129,  199 

Announcements    and    re-  Corresponding   secretary, 

ports,  100  47 

Apostolic       religious  Curriculum.  124 

schools,  16  Need  of  graded,  70 

Associational       organisa-       Outline  of,  134 

tions,  22  Range  of,  131 

Attendance  of  pupils,  74       Scientific  basis  of,  125 
Authority,  basis  of,  30 

-i^o  Decision,  age  of,  57,  126 
"  Bad  boy  problem,  149  definitions  of  Sunday 
Bible,    place    in    Sunday  school,  31 

school,  109  Departments,   34 

Studies  outsiae  of,  131  departmental  officers,  49 
Biblical     precedents     to  i^evelopment  of  the  Sun- 

the  Sunday  school,  15  ^^y  school,  10,  18,  27 

Blackboards,  93  Discipline,  143 

Book-work  for  pupils,  114  disorder,  causes  of,  144 
Buildings,      for      Sunday  Diyjsions   of   the   school, 

school,  86  39 

^  ^x,      irro         Principals  of,  44 
Child,  study  of  the,  178         secretaries  of,  48 
Church,  relation  to   Sun-  £)octrines  taught,  and  the 
day     school     m    his-  pastor,  57 

tory,  21  Drawing  by  pupils,  114 

And  school  to-day,  53 
Service     and      Sunday 

school,  53,   55  Edifice,  86 

Class  work,  105  Education    and    Evangel- 

Aids  to,  109  ism,  61 

203 


204  INDEX 

Educational   aim  In   dis-  Ideals     of     the     Sunday 

cipline,  144  school,  195 

Aim  in  the  offering,  151  Institutes     and     Confer- 

Aim  of  the  school,   61  ences,  182 

Effect  of  disorder,  146  Invitation,     methods     of, 

Effect  of  program,  104  77 
Organisation,  61 

Plan    in    adult   depart-  Lessons,    graded   against 

ment,  49  uniform,  70 

Election  of  oflBcers,  45  Library,  conduct   of,   193 

Superintendent,    42  Contents  of,  190 

Teachers,  45  Problem  of,  184 

Elementary  program,  98  Selection  of,  192 

Enrolment  secretary,   47  For        teachers        and 

Equipment  of  the  Sunday  workers,  188 

school,  91  Literature,    religious,    in 

Evangelism    and    educa-  the    Sunday     school, 

tion,  61  186 
Evolution  of  the  Sunday  General    and   the    Sun- 
school,  11  day  school,  187 
Examinations,  110 

Exhibits    and    museums.  Manual  methods,  112 

141  Argument  for,  115 

Extra-biblical        studies,  Maps,  93 

131  Map-work,  114 

Men      in      the     Sunday 

Field     of     the     Sunday  school,  161 

school,  75  Mediaeval       religious 

Finances  of  the   Sunday  schools,  16 

school,  156  Methods  (see  class- work. 

Furniture,  92  etc.) 

In  giving,  154 

General  secretary,  47  Financial,  158 

Genetic   basis   of   curric-  Missions,    literature    on, 

ula,  125  141 

Method,  63  Teaching  of,  136 

Giving  and  finances,  151  Music,  94 
Grading  the  school,  63 

Plans  for,  69  National      organisations, 

25 

History    of    the    Sunday  New     Testament     times, 

school,  12  religious   instruction 
Home  and  Sunday  school,          in,  13 

80 

Home  study,  107  Offering       in       Sunday 

Hymns  in  Sunday  school,  school,  151 

97  Use  of  the,  157 


INDEX 


205 


Dangers     relating     to, 
IGO 
Officers,  departmental,  34 

Of  divisions,  44 

Duties  of,  40 

Relations    of,     32,     36, 
39 
Organisation  of  adult  de- 
partment, 161 

Chart  of,   39 

Of  classes,  109 

Pedagogical,  37 

Plan  of,   28 

Principles,  29 

Parents       and       Sunday 

school,   80 
Pastor  in  Sunday  school, 

51 
Pedagogical  principles  of 

Sunday  school,  28 
Of   manual   work,   115, 

122 
Of  curriculum,  124 
Purposes  of  discipline, 

144 
Pictures       1  n       Sunday 

school,  92 
Preparation       of       the 

teacher,  106,  169 
Price     of     Sunday-school 

success,  199 
Primary  program,  97 
Principals    of    Divisions, 

44 
Prizes,  baits  and  bribes, 

83 
Program,   principles   and 

plans  of,  95 
Promotion,  basis  of,  67 
Public   library   and    Sun- 
day school,  187 
School  grades  and  Sun- 
day school,  67 
Pupil's       activities,       in 

class  work,  148 
In  discipline,  148 


In  school  work,  38,  109, 

113 
Pupil's  preparation,  105 
Pupil,  study  of,  148,  178 
Puritan    Sunday    school, 

18 
Purpose    of   the    Sunday 

school,  31,  61,  196 

Recruiting  pupils,  74 
Reference  library,  188 
Religious    Education   As- 
sociation, 26 
Religious    education, 
problem    of,   in    Sun- 
day school,  9 
Reformation,   schools   in, 

17 
Reports    and     announce- 
ments, 100 
Report  cards,  81 
Retaining  pupils,  79 
Robert  Raikes,  service  of, 
20 

Schedule  of  school  work, 

95 
School,     Sunday,     among 

educational  agencies, 

9,   61 
Scholars  (see  pupil) 
Scholars,     securing     and 

keeping,  74 
Training  for   Christian 

work,  123,  172 
Secretaries,  47 
Senior  program,  101 
Service,    training    pupils 

for,  123 
Special     occasions     and 

programs,  102 
Sports     and     recreations 

for  adults,  167 
Studies  (see  Curriculum), 

Range  of,  131 
Success,  factors  in,  195 
Superintendent,  40 


306  mDEX 

Superintendents,  paid,  43  Theological     Seminary 
Supplemental  or  integral  and    pastor's    prepa- 

lessons,  72  ration,  58 

Synagogue    and    Sunday  Training  the  workers  in 

school,  14  the  school,  123,  172 

Classes,  173 
Teacher,  place  in  school, 

Prtnaratlon  of  the    105  ^^^^^^     ^^^*^^'     Sunday 
I'reparation  or  tne,  lUb  school     development 

Qualifications    of    the,  j^    22 

Tra^inine  of  the    169  Unifying  forces,  36 

1  raining  or  tne,   iby  ushers,  48 
Teacher  s        curriculum, 

And    worker's   library.  Women,     adult,     classes 
188  fo^'  161 
Teaching,  the  first  func- 
tion      o  f       Sunday  Young   People's  Mission- 
school,  32  ary  Movement,  136 


s 


BIBLE  STUDY  HELPS.  ETC. 


'An^us-Green  Cyclopedic  Handbook  of 

the  Bible      tf^^  LowPrUtd  PopuUr  Edition 

An  introduction  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  by  the 
late  Joseph  Angus,  M.  A.,  M.  D.  Thoroughly  revised  and 
in  part  rewritten  by  Samuel  G.  Green,  D.D.  Cloth,  $1.50  net. 

Useful  for  all  Bible  students,  it  is  invaluable  for  the 
Sunday-school  teacher,  answering  as  it  does  the  innumerable 
questions  that  rise  in  the  class  as  to  the  books  of  the  Bible, 
the  different  versions,  the  geography,  history  and  customs 
of  Bible  times  and  Bible  characters.  More  comprehensive 
than  a  Bible  Dictionary;  it  will  prove  a  library  in  itself 
to  all  students  of  the  Bible. 

TThe  IVleSSi<lll  :    a  study  m  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom. 

,     i2mo.  Cloth,  $1.25  net.  DAVID  McCONAUGHY 

In   two   parts.      I.    Aiming  to   trace   the   outlines   of   the 

feerless  portrait  of  The  Messiah  as  depicted  by  Matthew. 
I.  A  series  of  devotional  meditations  adapted  for  the  "quiet 
hour,"  yet  intended  to  illustrate  a  method  simple  but  suf- 
ficient to  yield  substantial  results  as  have  been  proven  prac- 
ticable among  busy  men  of  business  and  students  in  the 
schools. 

The  Heart  of  the  Gospel 

,      A  Popular  Exposition  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Atonement. 

i      i2mo.  Cloth,  $1.25  net.  JAMES  M.  CAMPBELL 

The  power  in  the  book  is  its  clearness.  It  is  free  from 
terminology  of  the  schools,  uses  the  language  of  the  peo- 
ple and  will  do  what  the  author  hopes  for  in  his  preface — 
"find  the  basis  for  the  new  evangel  which  is  to  bring  in 
the  new  evangelism  in  a  conception  of  the  Atonement  which 
is  at  once  vital,  reasonable  and  practicable." 

HTUa  RiKIa  Otf^'linA/l        By  Its  Nataral  Divisions,  for  Bible 
1  lie  O&UIC  V/UlllllCU     Students  and  Sunday  School  Teachers. 

Ninth  Edition,  Paper,  loc  net.  W.  J.  SEMELROTH 

That  portion  of  The  Complete  Normal  Manual  containing  the  course 
on  the  Historical  Divisions,  containing  also  the  department  Book  by 
Books  and  Helps  for  Students  and  Classes. 


ESPERANTO 


Esperanto— A  First  Reader 

Flexible  Cloth,  25c  net.  Compiled  by  B.  A.  LAWRENCE 

Intended   for    those   who    are    beginning    the    study    oi 
Esperanto. 


NEW  EDITIONS 


The  Philosophy  of  Christian  Experience 

i2mo,  Cloth,  $1.25   net.  HENRY  W.  CLARK 

Marcus  Dods  in  the  "British  Weekly"  says:  "Not  twice 
in  a  generation  does  one  meet  with  so  valuable  an  analysis 
of  experimental  religion.  *  *  *  As  fresh  as  if  no  one  had 
ever  written  of  religion  before." 

New  Life  in  the  Old  Prayer  Meeting 

■     i2mo,  Cloth,  $1.00  net.  JOHN  F.  COWAN 

•  "Two  hundred  and  thirty  pages  of  the  soundest  com- 
mon sense.  The  book  is  an  honest  consideration  of  what  is 
a  real  problem  to  nearly  every  minister." — Record  of  Chris- 
Han  Work. 

How  to  Conduct  a  Sunday  School 

fi.25  net.  MARION  LAWRANCE 

'  "Packed  full  of  useful  information.  Filled  with  de- 
tails, specific  and  practical,  for  which  a  host  of  workers 
have  longed  and  prayed.  The  book  gives  the  cream  of  life 
long  experience  and  observation." — The  Examiner. 

The  Twentieth  Century  New  Testament 

'  Substantial  Cloth  Binding,  $1.00  net;  lyCather  Bindings, 
$1.50  net,  $2.00  net,   $3.50  net. 

Translates  the  New  Testament  direct  from  the  Greek 
into  the  plainest  English  of  our  times.  Every  passage  is 
rendered  clear  as  sunlight.  Revised  and  completed  after 
thirteen   years  labor  of  twenty  great   scholars. 

"Put  into  the  language  that  we  speak  every  day — plain 
language- — it  comes  to  one  with  new  and  added  power — a 
fresh,  racy  translation  of  narrative,  or  an  exact  and  luminous 
translation  of  exposition.  It  is  well  that  the  most  sacred  of 
books  can  now  be  comprehended  by  the  plainest  man."— 
Chicago  Record-Herald. 

Esperanto  Students'  Handy  Text  Book    , 

New  Revised  Edition  of  1907,  Cloth,  soc  net. 

"The  late  Prof.  Max  Muller  pronounced  Esperanto  tKtf' 
best  of  all  attempts  to  create  an  international  language.  It 
has    already    gained    considerable    vogue,    and    is    attracting 

?ublic  attention  in  England  as  well  as  on  the  continent, 
'here  are  at  least  ten  periodicals  published — chiefly  in  France 
— for  the  propagation  of  the  new  language." — Chicago  Recori- 
Werai4, 


NEW  EDITIONS 


Quiet  Talks  on  Service 

i6mo,   Cloth,   7SC  net.  S.  D.  GORDON 

As  a  third  volume  in  a  series  of  "Quiet  Talks"  upon 
the  elements  of  the  Christian  Life,  this  volume  will  find  a 
ready  welcome  from  the  hundreds  of  thousands  who  have 
read  and  re-read,  either  in  their  original  form  or  in  their 
many  translations.  "Quiet  Talks  on  Power"  and  "Quiet 
Talks  on  Prayer,'*  the  earlier  works  by  Mr.  Gordon.  The 
sequence  of  "power,"  "prayer"  and  "service"  suggests  the 
possibilities  of  this  trinity  of  spiritual   forces. 

By  the  author  of  Quiet  Talks  on  Power  and  Prayer  and 
Service. 


The  Transfiguration  of  Christ 

i2mo,  Cloth,  $1.00  net.  FRANK  W.  GUNSAULUS 

Dealing  with  the  deeper  truths  embodied  in  the  crisis 
of  our  Lord's  transfiguration.  Dr.  Gunsaulus  knows  how 
to  follow  a  ray  of  truth  straight  to  the  spot  of  human  life 
that  it  best  illuminates. 


My  Spiritual  Autobiography, 

or  How  1  Discovered  the  Unselfishness  of  God. 

HANNAH  WHITALL  SMITH 

Ntw  Edition.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1.00  net. 

"Those  who  have  read  and  rejoiced  over  "The  Chris- 
tian's Secret  of  a  Happy  Life"  will  need  no  further  recom- 
mendation of  this  book.  To  those  aspiring  after  the  higher 
Christian  possibilities  we  recommend  this  book  as  being 
distinctly  helpful." — Church  Economist. 


Foretokens  of  Immortality 

New  Edition.  Studies  "for  the  hour  when  the  Immortal 
hope  Ijurns  low  in  the  heart." 

i2mo,  Cloth,  500  net.  NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS 
"It  is  a  book  that  lifts  us  out  of  our  narrow  view,  and 
gives  us  the  broad  landscape,  across  which  the  narrow  river 
of  death  flows  as  an  insignificant  stream,  lifts  our  eyes  from 
the  clods  of  the  open  grave  to  the  wide  expanse  of  sunlight, 
which  falls  to  and  beyond  the  limit  of  our  vision." — The 
Interior.  

Loyalty:  The  Soul  of  Religion 

i2mo,  Cloth,  $1.00  net.  JAMES  G.  K.  McCLURE 

"Dr.  McClure  sets  forth  the  idea  with  a  clearness  not 
surpassed  in  literature,  and  in  a  great  variety  of  illustra- 
tion, argument  and  appeal — a  great  book  to  give  to  a  young 
man  of  the  college  type.  It  takes  him  as  he  is  and  takes 
bold  of  best  possibilities  io  him,"^N,  Y*  Qbtfrvir* 


PASTORAL  PROBLEMS 


An  Efficient  Church 

With   an   introduction  by   Bishop   Earl    OSRStCfi,   IX.    D., 

i2mo,  Cloth,  $1.25  net.  CARL  GREGG.  DONEY 

This  book  is  one  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  science  of 
Psychology  in  the  sphere  of  the  modern  pastorate.  His 
conclusions  are  drawn  from  a  prolonged  process  of  close 
questioning  of  a  great  number  of  students,  laymen  and 
ministers.  He  presents  data  gathered  at  first  hand  and 
■works  with  the  clear,  fearless  spirit  of  the  trained  mind. 
He  opens  up  the  pathway  to  methods  of  working  and  teach- 
ing in  the  modern  religious  congregation  that  will  upset 
some  old  ideals,  but  cannot  fail  to  give  every  alert  religious 
worker  a  fresh  inspiration  and  a  new  hope. 

Preacher  Problems  °' '^'"%TeThert  Sh  w'Jrk. 

i2mo,  Cloth,  $1.50  net.'  WILLIAM  T.  MOORE 

There  is  very  much  about  the  actual  operation  of  a  pro- 
fession that  is  not  touched  by  the  Colleges  and  the  Schools, 
and  even  after  much  experience  the  minister  will  find  him- 
self confronting  a  situation  for  which  he  has  no  data  to 
guide  him.  This  book  is  an  adviser  for  the  minister  young 
or  old;  advice  from  a  long  experience  and  guided  by  the 
sanest  spirit.  The  author's  fifty-years  experience  as  author, 
editor,  instructor  and  pastor,  gives  his  conclusions  great  value 

The  Doctrine  of  the  Ministry: 

Outlines  based  on  Luthardt  and  Krauth. 
i2mo,  Cloth,  7SC  net. .        REVERE  FRANKLIN  WEIDNER 

This  work  is  the  result  and  growth  of  twenty-five  years 
discussion  in  the  class  room,  and  though  professedly  based 
on  IvUthardt  and  Krauth  and  containing  every  word  of 
Luthardt's  presentation  it  is  much  more  than  a  translation, 
as  Luthardt  does  not  devote  more  than  ten  pages  in  his 
■works  to  this  theme,  and  Krauth  would  not  cover  a  score  of 
lepers.  Dr.  Weidner,  President  of  the  Chicago  Lutheran 
Seminary,  may  therefore  well  claim  full  authorship. 


THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 


The  Modern  Sunday  School  in  Principle 

And    Practice     ^''  ^^  M^^p  school  and  Its  Educational 
**'*'*    naVjUViC  Purpose. 

l2mo.   Cloth,   $1.00   net.  HENRY  F.  COPE 

By  the  General  Secretary  of  fhe  Religious  Education 
Association.  He  presents  the  results  of  all  the  newest 
experiments  both  with  primary,  adolescent  and  adult  grades. 
So  clear  and  simple  is  his  presentation,  that  this  book  will 
be  a  revelation  to  many. 


Date  Due 

Hiyas'M 

'  -  M 

»»ZL^ 

z^s^^ 

M 

'V 

f) 

"C  ^f^ 


Ii'lj!  :i      ti 

II  i 


!     ! 


1    1012  01035  2385 


iiill 


^!;ii!.lllli 


^1       n.. 
1 


lliil!!!i!llllllllllli 


I'ilPii!!  r 


